Abused
by Lady B90
Summary: Puck notices Rachel coming to school with bruises on her arm. He wants to help.
1. Intro

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee

Author's Note- I haven't written in a while, so let me know how I'm doing

Puck first noticed it one Glee afternoon rehearsal. They were in the auditorium rehearsing a new dance number, when Rachel stumbled. He was the closest one next to her, so he caught her before she fell, and noticed her wincing in pain as his hand closed on her arm over a hand shaped bruise. His blood ran cold. Rachel tried to hide it, but as he looked in her eyes, he knew that she knew he saw it. After they finished rehearsing, Puck turned to talk to her, ask her who had done that to her, with the full intention of beating up whoever it was, but she ran before he could say anything. Growling to himself, he was determined to talk to her in the morning.

The next morning, Puck went to her locker, hoping to find her before class started, but once the bell rang and Rachel hadn't shown up, he figured she must have gone to her locker before he came to school and gotten her books so she wouldn't need to go back to her locker.

But Puck was smart, a lot smarter than people gave him credit for. He knew that chasing Rachel wouldn't help, that she knew he wanted to talk to her and would just avoid him. So he was going to get creative. He had a plan that would _make_ her talk to him.

This is just the introduction, let me know if you want me to continue, thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee

Author's Note- You guys are amazing. You have no idea how ridiculously happy I was to see all the alerts/reviews this morning after not even 12 hours. Special thanks to those who reviewed; this is for all of you! Hope you like it!

Rachel's POV

The next morning, Rachel woke up to her alarm, groaning as she did so. She decided to skip her daily workout regime in favor of taking time to do her make up.

_I can't believe he saw_ Rachel thought to herself as she gingerly raised her pajama shirt so she could inspect the bruises on her arm and stomach more carefully.

Rachel frowned. The bruises that were merely blue yesterday were now spreading and turning greenish. She took out her cover-up, knowing that it would be harder to hide them than it was yesterday. After putting on what seemed like a pound of cover-up that still wasn't working, Rachel finally decided to wear one of her long sleeved sweaters, thankful for the first time that she was known for wearing her "crazy animal sweaters" and wouldn't get questioned for why she was wearing such a heavy sweater indoors. By the time Rachel finished dressing and deeming her appearance acceptable, she was running late and rushed to get to school.

Rachel ran inside and almost passed out. It. was. boiling. She spotted Tina and Mike standing near the doors and went up to them, wondering if they knew what was going on.

"Hey guys, what's up? Question, why is it so hot in here?" she asked, skipping over any pleasantries.

"Oh, they put the heat on because of the cold front moving in." Mike answered.

Rachel grumbled to herself. _Now_ she would get questions for her attire. _Oh well_, she thought. _I'll just tell people I have a cold or something. And then maybe people will stay away from me and won't come close enough to see me._

She didn't bank on Puck though. She saw him constantly throughout the day. He never said anything, but she saw him standing near her every time she turned. It was one such time after classes before Glee rehearsal when Rachel opened her locker, and stopped.

Inside, was a small tub of bruise ointment with a note next to it.

_Put this on the bruise twice a day and it should reduce the pain and swelling_ it said.

Rachel looked around to see if anyone saw, and spotted Puck at the corner of her eye. She turned to him and saw him staring at her. He nodded, and walked into the Glee rehearsal room. Rachel let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in her fear that he would come talk to her. Grabbing the ointment, she closed her locker and walked to rehearsal.

Author's Note: I know this was short, but I had to end the chapter here, I'll try to have Chapter 2 up soon


	3. Abused Ch 2 Bruised

Disclaimer : I don't own Glee

Glee rehearsal started to become a personal hell for Rachel. Puck would always come up and talk to her, usually about the most inane things, just for the sake of talking to her. He also made a point of walking her to her car, sometimes talking, sometimes walking with her in silence, willing her to talk. But she never did. She wasn't ready to talk about it.

And then there was the rehearsals themselves. It seemed that every dance move they did involved nothing but grabbing arms and lifting by the waists. Rachel was now completely sure that Puck knew something was going on because whenever he had to lift her, or grab her arm, he made sure to be extra gentle, much more so than the other Glee members and what he would have done during a normal rehearsal.

One particular move when Finn had to squeeze her arms and then twirl her, Rachel's pain intensified, and she gasped from the pain. And it was noticed.

"Rachel, are you okay?"

Mr. Schue's voice broke through her exclamation, and Rachel had to bite her tongue to keep from crying out.

"I'm fine, Mr. Schue" she said, grinding her teeth to try to hold back another gasp of pain. "I just fell and bruised my arm the other day in dance class, and it's a little sensitive, but really it's fine."

Mr. Schue nodded, seeming to believe her lie and everyone else seemed to buy it too. But she knew Puck didn't. Rachel was too graceful to just fall in class, and even if she had, she wouldn't be hiding it, she would have said something about her not being able to do those moves for risk of giving her even more bruises. There was definitely something wrong. And Rachel knew that Puck knew all of this. Just _when_ he was going to do something was what Rachel didn't know.

The next morning, Rachel opened her locker, already knowing that she would find a little "present" inside. She had so far found the bruise ointment, some cover-up to hide the marks, and a small bottle of Advil for the pain. This time, there was a pair of sturdy looking sneakers with a note next to it.

"So you won't fall in dance class again"

Rachel sighed. She knew that at this point she would have to come clean. These gifts were getting expensive, and there was no point in pretending anymore. He clearly already figured out that something was going on. So during lunch period, she was going to talk to him.

- Puck's POV-

Puck had just gotten his food and was going to sit down with his friends when Rachel came up to him.

"Hi" she said. "Can we talk? By the bleachers?"

Puck breathed a sigh of relief. _Finally_ he thought _now she's going to tell me whoever it is that's hurting her, and then I can kill them._

They sat down, at the exact spot where they broke up. Puck wasn't going to lie. It had hurt when she dumped him. He may have denied it at the time, but he really didn't want to break up with her. He knew that deep down he liked her, but now was not the time to get into that. He had to take care of Rachel first, and put a stop to whatever and whoever is hurting her.

After a good 30 seconds of not saying anything, Rachel started in a small voice.

"I know it's you who has been putting those gifts in my locker. I know you've noticed something is wrong. I haven't been myself, I've been pulling out in rehearsals, and I've been tired a lot. So I'm just going to go out and say it."

She took in a shaky breath and exhaled.

"I'm being…someone has been…." She started and then stopped. She took in another deep breath closed her eyes, and said in a voice so small, it was like a whisper

"I'm being abused"

Puck looked at her. He saw she had tears in her eyes, and scooped her up into his lap. Finally letting the tears fall, she sobbed into his chest as he held her close. After a while, when the tears slowed he murmured to her softly, not wanting to scare her,

"Please, Rachel, who is doing this to you?" he asked.

Rachel clung tighter to his shirt. "I can't, please, I can't tell you. Not now, I'm not ready. Please Noah, don't make me."

Puck leaned back so he could look in her eyes. He slowly raised his hand to caress the side of her face and stroke her hair.

"I'm never going to make you do something you don't want to do Rachel." He said slowly, making sure she understood every word. "Not now, not ever, you hear me?"

Rachel nodded and leaned back into him to wrap her arms around his middle. "Thank you" she softly said. "I will tell you, I'm just not ready for it now."

Puck wrapped his arm lightly around her waist too, keeping in mind her bruise. "That's fine, just know that the minute you want to talk, I'm here. Always" He said. Puck looked into her eyes, and then to relieve some of the tension, playfully rested his forehead on top of hers. "There's no way to keep a secret from the Puckasaurus"

Rachel laughed and slid off his lap to eat her lunch, with him wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

_I will find out who did this_ he thought, as Rachel leaned into his embrace.


	4. Abused Ch 3 Meet the Parents

Disclaimer: I still don't own Glee

Author's Note- Wow! I love you guys! 5,000 hits in only 3 days! I actually screamed a little when I saw the number. You guys are awesome, I hope this does justice.

The next few weeks, Puck and Rachel were inseparable. Puck never wanted to leave her alone, and wanted to figure out who was hurting her. Rachel personally loved having someone she could really talk to. The other Glee kids were nice enough, but Rachel never bonded with any of them. She didn't have to hide anything with Puck. And not just about the abuse, she could just be herself with him.

One day during lunch, Rachel walked up to Puck "Noah, I think you should meet my dads tonight"

Puck, who had just taken a sip of water, almost spit it out at this announcement. "What? Why? Berry, this is not a good idea. Me and dads don't mix very well."

Actually Puck was completely lying. He was desperate to meet them, but he knew if he seemed too eager, Rachel would know something was up. As much as he didn't like the idea, he had to see if her dads were the ones abusing her. He knew none of the Glee kids could do it obviously, and he had suspected the jocks, but Rachel never reacted when she passed them. He knew that whoever was abusing Rachel was scaring her and she would have some sort of reaction from them. But he still kept a close watch on them, he wasn't stupid enough to write them off completely. He wished he could ask Mike, Finn, Sam and Artie to also keep an eye out, but then they would ask too many questions about exactly why he wanted them to watch the other jocks.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "This isn't an 'I'm about to take your daughter out on date, give me the third degree situation', they just want to meet the 'nice young man who has befriended me,' as they put it"

Puck's heart clenched a little at this sentence. How he wished it _were_ that kind of situation. Pushing back these thoughts, he returned back to the present. "Okay, but give me time to go home first, I don't think your dads will want to see me in my sweaty football jersey.

Rachel pretended to wrinkle her nose and laughed. "Okay, but don't be too late. I'm not sure if they will, but be prepared to be invited to dinner".

Puck paled a little at these words. "Fine, but if you guys start singing show tunes at the dinner table, I may become suddenly sick."

Rachel grinned. "Deal"

True to his word, Puck knocked on the Berry's front door after he had come home after practice. He waited a moment before he heard Rachel yell for him to let himself in. He walked in and hung his jacket on the coat hanger, but at first didn't see anyone. Suddenly, he heard Rachel speaking from her room.

"Dad had to go to a dinner date with a client, and Daddy went with him, so they said we should eat dinner without them."

Puck shrugged. "Okay, that's cool" he said, while climbing the stairs to Rachel's room. After being friends with her for the past month or so, plus their brief fling in tenth grade, he knew where it was and didn't bother asking Rachel where it was before he walked in. Because of this, Rachel didn't have any warning that he was coming. Just as Puck opened the door, Rachel gasped and turned away from him.

"No, Noah, Don't…!" but it was too late. Noah already saw.

At first, Puck was confused about why she wouldn't let him in, she wasn't naked or anything, she was wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts. But then, he got a better look at her and understood.

All along her forearms and thighs were big ugly bruises, some handprint shaped and some just looking as if someone punched her. He even noticed a few scratches on her shoulders where her abuser must have held her. Puck's blood ran cold as Rachel looked at him with an apologetic look. But when Puck looked up at her face and saw the apology and anguish, he immediately softened.

"Oh, Rach…" he said, and opened his arms to her. Rachel didn't waste any time and went straight into them, wrapping her own arms around his waist, while he rested his arms around her back and threaded his fingers lightly through her hair. He could feel Rachel silently crying into his shirt and just continued to hold her, letting her cry until her tears ran out. When she finished crying, he pulled back and sat them down on her bed.

"Rachel…" he began, but she interrupted him before he could say anything else.

"Noah, I know what you're about to say, but I'm still not ready, I just want to forget about what happened."

Noah sighed. "Okay, we don't have to talk about it. Come here, let me help you with these bruises." Following his request, Rachel turned her back to him so he could rub the bruise cream on her shoulders and the back of her arms, jumping a little when the cold cream touched her bare arms. When he was done, he moved so she could do the rest herself. "Come on, let's let the cream air dry while we eat dinner before your dads come home".

Rachel nodded, and they walked to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Neither of them was really in the mood to start cooking, so they heated up some frozen stir-fry. Puck set the table while she cooked, and when Rachel finished cooking; she turned around and saw he put two glasses and a large pitcher of water on the table. Smiling softly at him, touched that he remembered, she sat down and they started to eat.

After they finished dinner, her dads still weren't home, so Rachel got her sweater to cover her arms and they sat down in the living room to watch a movie. Rachel insisted they watch Wizard of Oz, Puck pretending to complain, although he secretly liked the movie too.

When they got to the scene where Dorothy first lands in Oz, he teased Rachel "hey, Rach those Munchkins are short and they like to sing. You totally belong there".

Rachel elbowed him, but Puck could see that she was smiling. Relieved that he got her to smile, he didn't say anything and just wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she leaned into him slightly.

Rachel seemed enraptured with the movie, but Puck's mind was far away. He still couldn't rule out one or both of her dads as possibly being the abuser, but his gut told him it wasn't them. Rachel wouldn't have invited him to meet them if it was one of them; she knew that he wanted to know. He sighed, a little frustrated that she still wouldn't tell him who it was, but knew enough to respect her wishes and give her time and space so she could tell him on her own terms.

A little while later, Rachel's dads did come home, and after spending five minutes with them, he knew they weren't abusing Rachel. Their absolute love and devotion to her was so obvious, they acted like she was God's gift to the world, which Puck privately agreed that to some extent, she was.

After spending a few more minutes talking to her dads, them both asking him questions, but clearly thrilled that Rachel had a friend, Puck made to leave, saying that his mom was going to start the night shift soon, and he needed to watch his sister. The two men exchanged impressed glances to each other, and then said goodbye to him, leaving the room so Rachel could say goodbye to him in private.

Rachel smiled up at him. "Now that wasn't so bad, was it Noah?" she teased. Puck laughed, and Rachel looked down for a second before meeting his eyes again. "Thanks, Noah" she said. Puck could tell that she wasn't just talking about coming for dinner, and smiled at her. "I'll see you in school tomorrow" he said, and then after hesitating for a second, he leaned down and kissed her cheek. Rachel looked up at him with wide eyes. "Goodnight Rach" he said, smiling at her as he shrugged on his jacket.

Rachel smiled back "Goodnight Noah"

Author's Note 2: I know you guys want to know who's abusing Rachel, but give it a little more time, you'll find out soon, don't worry! Let me know your thoughts please!


	5. Abused Ch 4 Costumes and Coffee

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Glee**

**Author's Note- So sorry I haven't updated in a while! I wasn't feeling well and then I had a little writer's block, but I'll try to be better, so here's chapter 4!**

The next few weeks of rehearsal continued and Rachel had been getting better about hiding her pain so nobody except Puck still knew what was going on. Then, the inevitable happened.

Mr. Schuester walked in to rehearsal one day. "Okay guys, listen up."

Everyone stopped talking and Rachel turned away from Puck from who she had just been talking to and looked at Mr. Schue

"I know we talked about costumes, so I have some mock ups ready for the girls, I want to make sure everything is ready and we don't have any costume troubles and last minute adjustments."

He started handing out the costumes to everyone, the guys wearing suits with bowties on them, and the girls wearing spaghetti strap dresses that flared out to the knee with a bow in the back. As Mr. Schue handed Rachel hers, she froze and stared at Puck.

Puck knew exactly what made Rachel look so scared. Until now she had gotten away wearing those crazy animal sweaters to hide her bruises, but with this dress, it would be impossible to hide them now.

"Rachel, go change" Mr. Schue said, shaking Rachel out of her trance. Puck looked around to see that all the other girls went to the bathroom to change and Mr. Schue expected her to follow them. Rachel blinked at him and Puck could see she was trying to hold back tears as she slowly walked out of the room. Puck knew he had to do something.

"Um, Mr. Schue, can I go to the bathroom?" Puck asked. Mr Schue nodded at him and Puck ran after Rachel.

"Rach, wait up!" he called after her, spotting her walking down the hall.

Rachel turned to look at him, and Puck could see the tears already running down her cheeks.

"Noah, what am I going to do? I've gotten away with hiding the bruises with my sweaters and long sleeves, but this is a spaghetti strap dress! There's no way they won't notice now!" she said, now full on sobbing.

Puck gathered her into his arms. "Shh Rachel, it's okay, I know how we can fix this," he said.

Rachel sniffed and pulled back a little so she could see him. "Really? How?"

Puck smiled. "Come on, I need to show you something, it's in my locker." He took her hand and led her to his locker, which thankfully was only one hallway over. When they reached his locker, he turned Rachel around. "Okay, close your eyes" he said. Rachel did as he asked and she heard Puck take something from his locker and felt him put something in her hands. "Okay, open your eyes" he said.

Rachel looked down at what he put in her hands and gasped. It was a nude colored body suit, the kind that went from head to thighs with sleeves that went to the wrist, like ballet dancers usually wore.

"You can wear it under your dress, that way it still looks like your skin. The only lights in the auditorium will be the stage lights and you can't really see that it's a suit under those lights. You'll run on stage just before we start and then run off right after, that way no one gets a good look at it." Puck explained as Rachel fingered the material.

Rachel grinned widely and jumped into his arms. "Oh, Noah, thank you! This is perfect! You're a genius!"

Puck smiled and returned her hug. "I know," he said.

Rachel laughed and then kissed him on the cheek. She then let go with a slight blush on her face. "I'll go change now, tell everyone that I'm changing and that I'll be there in one minute."

Puck ran his fingers through Rachel's hair. "You got it".

Puck's idea worked. She signaled to Brad to shut the lights as she was walking on stage so nobody could get a good look, and then she ran off the second they finished. Puck was a little slower to leave the auditorium, he didn't want to cause suspicion by having both of them run out of the auditorium. When Puck did leave the room, he saw Rachel leaning against his locker, waiting for him.

"You want to get a drink at the coffee shop?" Rachel asked, smiling slightly at him.

Puck grinned. "I'd love to," he said, holding out his arm for her to snake her hand through as they left the building.

They drove to the coffee shop, both of them resting their arms on the armrest, though not quite touching. When Puck reached the coffee shop, he left the truck first so he could let Rachel out. Rachel smiled at his act of gallantry and thanked him.

Rachel seemed to be having a great time. Puck thought she looked happier right there than she did in the past few months, talking and laughing as they drank their coffees. Rachel then leaned forward to take another drink when Puck spotted another bruise on her collarbone.

Puck frowned. This can't keep happening; the abuse has to stop. He was about to bring the subject up again, but then he looked into her smiling face and stopped. He didn't want to spoil the one time she actually looked happy.

_I just wish she would tell me, or I could get a clue or something!_ Puck thought.

Just as he thought that, Puck heard the door of the shop open and looked up to see Rachel glance at whoever walked in, and froze. Puck could see out of the corner of his eye that the person went to the counter to order a coffee and he slightly turned his head to see who made Rachel react that way without letting her see what he was doing.

He saw a short man with black hair and what seemed to be a permanent scowl on his face. Puck tried to remember if he knew this man, something about his description sounded really familiar. Then the man started speaking and he got it.

"Hurry up with my order, stop dancing around and make my coffee!" the man spat out.

Puck looked up at his choice of words. _Dance._ He was that choreographer from Vocal Adrenaline that New Directions hired for all of two day. Puck then looked at Rachel and saw she was frozen, and then he knew. This was the man who was abusing Rachel.

"Is everything okay over here?" a waitress who had just come over to their table asked. Rachel blinked and then smiled at the waitress as if nothing happened. "No, thank you, everything is great."

Puck sighed. Rachel still wasn't going to say anything. Puck looked at the guy again and noted how small he was. What was he doing that could scar Rachel so badly?

After a few more minutes, they got up to pay for their coffee and Puck drove Rachel home, with one thought running through his head.

_I need to find out more about this guy._


	6. Author's Note

Guys, I am so sorry I haven't update in a while, life has been really crazy lately, but don't worry I haven't given up on this yet! I'm really sorry but please keep with me, I have a lot of ideas! I'll try to update soon, things are just really crazy right now!


	7. Abused Ch 5 Confirmation

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee

Author's Note- Again, I'm so sorry, I'll try to be better, I just have a little case of writer's block and life is a little crazy right now. But I hope this makes up for the long wait!

Puck walked up to the house that he had been parked by for the past ten minutes, mustering up the courage to walk in.

_Come on Puck, think of Rachel! You have to do this!_ He thought to himself, trying to psych himself into doing it.

Puck took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, he heard someone walking to the door and they opened it with a gasp.

"Noah?" the person asked.

Puck looked up into the eyes of Shelby Corcoran.

Shelby collected herself. "What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"It's um, about Rachel" he said. "Can I come in?"

"Oh, of course" she said, and stepped aside so he could walk into her house. "Do you want something to drink?" she asked him, closing the door behind her. "Water? Juice? Soda?"

"Water's fine, thank you" he politely replied.

"You can go in the living room, I'll just get the drinks," Shelby said, turning to walk into the kitchen.

Puck walked into the living room, seeing pictures all over the room. His heart clenched when he saw all the ones with Beth, her hazel eyes bright with her blonde curls cascading down her face.

There were other pictures too, some he noted of being Vocal Adrenaline club pictures, or pictures of a younger Shelby in costume performing on stage. _She looks so much like Rachel_ he thought. Just as he thought this, he saw another photo on the mantelpiece and did a double take.

It was a clipping from the Lima newspaper from sectionals from sophomore year, with Rachel smiling happily as she belted out the last note on Don't Rain on my Parade. Puck touched his finger to the photo. She looked so happy, like she belonged on stage. Which of course, she did.

"That was the first time I'd seen her"

Puck jumped and turned around, and saw Shelby standing behind him, holding two glasses of water. She put the glasses on the coffee table and sat down on the couch, gesturing for Puck to take a seat. He did so, sitting on the armchair across from her so he could look at her while talking. They sat in an awkward silence for a few seconds before Shelby broke it.

"You, ah, said something about Rachel? Is she okay?" she asked, prompting him to talk. Even though her voice was steady, Puck could see deep concern in her eyes, and put his glass down so he could answer her.

"Yes. Well, actually, I wanted to talk to you about Dakota Stanley" he said.

Shelby looked surprised. "Dakota Stanley? Why would you need to know about him?" she asked, completely bewildered.

"Please" Puck began. "I can't get into the whole story right now, but I need to know everything about him."

Shelby sat back and started talking. "Well, he used to choreograph the dances for Vocal Adrenaline before the school fired him."

Puck nodded, this much he knew. "Why did he get fired?" he asked.

"He was a tyrant" Shelby replied. "Working the kids to the point of exhaustion, telling them to starve themselves, making them overwork themselves, especially the students with low self-esteem. But the main problem was how…abusive he would get. The kids didn't say anything for the longest time, but eventually one student came forward."

Puck's blood went cold. "What do you mean when you say 'abusive'? He doesn't look strong enough to take down a four year old." He said.

"Well, he wouldn't start out outright beating. It started small, like I said with the exhaustion and the starvation. Then he got emotionally abusive. You know, telling them they were useless and untalented and they couldn't do anything right. For a performer whose dream it was to make their talents known, that one is particularly harsh. It's why so many people drop out of the business, you can only hear "no" so many times."

Shelby took a deep breath, probably remembering all the rejections she must have experienced. After taking a minute to re-collect herself, she continued.

"Then, the physical abuse started. If one of the students fell during a dance move, he'd slap them on the legs as a punishment for messing up. A vocal mistake was a punch to the stomach-apparently to remind them to use their diaphragm correctly. Forgetting to lift, or move their upper body was a slap or scratch on the arms. But he never hit their face or lower limbs, making sure that the bruises stayed hidden. And it worked for a while, until the students got fed up. Or, most likely, a parent saw and got fed up, and forced them to tell the principal what was going on, and the principal fired him."

"Unfortunately, he wasn't arrested because nobody actually saw him do it, and it became a he-said, she-said situation. The student didn't want to call too much attention to the situation, so they didn't press charges and he got off. I hear he now teaches at some dance school. God help any of his students. Maybe he'll get caught this time."

Puck breathed in deeply. This fit what was happening to Rachel perfectly.

"But why wouldn't they press charges? And why did it take so long to report him?" Noah asked, exasperated that nothing happened to him.

Shelby looked at Puck with a sympathetic look in her eyes. "Noah, show business is a serious thing. It's mean and cutthroat and ruthless. Everyone trying to get in knows this. If you don't bite, you don't get in the doghouse. Dakota Stanley may be a jerk and a tyrant, but he's one of the best. His students see that his abusing and hurting them is just his way of pushing them to do their best. That he will get them to succeed. And they might be right. But he might kill them in the process. Some of us know this, I do, the principal does, Will Schuester probably knows this too, otherwise he would have asked for help. But most of the students don't know this. I can see that you do, that you can see that some things are not worth it."

"It's like popularity in high school. Bullies hurt other kids so they can be on top, but at the end of four years, it won't do anything for them, and it leaves their victims with emotional, or physical scars that won't go away once they graduate."

Puck was silent, thinking about how he used to bully other kids, and how stupid it was. Shelby was right, popularity doesn't matter after high school.

Puck's internalizing was disrupted when he heard a baby's cry coming from the baby monitor on the coffee table.

"That'll be Beth" Shelby said softly. "I'll go get her."

Puck just stared up at her. This was the moment he had been so afraid of. On the one hand, he was touched that Shelby listened to his request and kept her name, and was dying to meet Beth. But on the other hand, he was scared. Scared of meeting Beth and not approving of the way she was growing up. Her adoptive mother did throw away the chance to get to know Rachel. But then again, there was no way anyone could look around the house and not see how adored Beth must be. And Puck could see that Shelby regretted giving up Rachel. He could see that she was genuinely troubled when she thought that something was wrong. Puck knew he was about two minutes away from Shelby asking about Rachel, but he wasn't sure if he should say anything. Rachel didn't want anyone else knowing, and he hadn't even told her dads yet, why should he tell Shelby?

Puck was broken out of his internal struggle when he saw Shelby bring Beth downstairs. He suddenly had a hard time breathing. She was beautiful, the most innocent looking baby he had ever seen. He longed to touch her; to hold her in his arms like he had wanted to the minute he heard that Quinn was pregnant.

Shelby must have seen the look in his eyes. She hesitated for a second and then held Beth out a little toward him. "Do you want to hold her?" she asked.

Puck couldn't speak, so he nodded, and accepted Beth into his arms. She was perfect, contentedly sucking her thumb and staring up at him. Puck went over her features carefully, noting that she had Quinn's nose, and a twinkle in her hazel eyes under those long eyelashes, the exact same shade as his own. Her blonde curls were so soft, her skin porcelain white, but he could tell would tan well, just like his.

Shelby let him have his moment with his daughter before clearing her throat softly. "Noah, what does Dakota Stanley have to do with Rachel?"

Puck looked up at her and knew he couldn't lie to her. Having Beth in his arms made him think that if the situation were reversed, he would want to know every detail, regardless of the fact that he gave her up. The look in Shelby's eyes confirmed this, the helpless need to know everything, even though she probably guessed based on his questions. But she wanted to her him say it.

Puck took a deep breath. "I think Rachel is being abused by Dakota Stanley. She has scratches and bruises all over her skin and works twice as hard in glee, going along with the choreography exactly, even though I know it hurts her. She could easily tell Mr. Schue that she hurt herself in dance class or something, but she pushes herself like crazy, practicing her vocals at every free moment, keeping up with an insane exercise schedule and diet, even though she's like, tiny, and does not need to worry about having a milkshake or a burger once in a while. I know she takes dance lessons after school, and I think Dakota Stanley is her instructor. And she's crazy enough to think that it's worth it, even though she knows she's being abused, she keeps going back to him, so she could get the "lessons" from him that she doesn't even need."

As Puck finished his little speech, he noticed that Shelby had tears in her eyes, and it was also suddenly hard for him to swallow. He turned away from her gaze and looked down at Beth, wanting to keep at least one of his girls safe. When he looked back up at Shelby, he could see that she had a similar thought process, and her body language suggested that she also wanted to hold Beth tight, but didn't want to interrupt Puck with his brief bonding time with his daughter.

Puck felt truly grateful for Shelby at that moment, for letting him have his time with Beth, and knew that giving Beth to Shelby was the best idea they had. He stood up and handed Beth back to Shelby. "I-I should go," he said. "I'm going to talk to Rachel, see if she'll admit it now."

Shelby nodded, and started walking him to the door. But before he could leave, she stopped him.

"Noah?" she paused. "Just…take care of her. I'd really like to know how she does and how this will all end up. Maybe we can work together on this? I know that you are more than capable, but if you need an adult, or just someone who knows the business…" she trailed off.

Puck gave her a small smile. "Of course, and thank you, I'll let you know either way."

Shelby nodded. "And…if you ever want to stop by, you can. You can even maybe bring Rachel if you -or she- want to."

Puck gave her a wide smile at that. "Thank you," he said, his voice sincere. "I'll take you up on it. On both counts," and with one last look at Beth, he walked to his car and drove away, feeling much lighter on this drive than he did on the last.

A.N 2- I know this was long, but I wanted to give you guys something special. Again, I can't promise when I'll have the next chapter up, but I'll do my best. Let me know what you think!


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note- I am so so so sorry it's taken me so long, but life has been absolutely crazy. Good news though, I have the rest of the story mostly done, so I'll be posting the other chapters soon. Again, I'm so sorry, but I hope this was worth the wait! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee**

The next day, Puck was sitting in the choir room next to Rachel waiting for Mr. Schuester to come in and begin rehearsal. About a minute later he walked in and Puck smiled. Before Mr. Schue could start rehearsal, Puck loudly interrupted.

"Hey Mr. Schue, do you know anything about Dakota Stanley?"

The room went silent, all of them wondering why Puck wanted to know about the dance instructor. But Puck noticed that Rachel froze in her seat and her face was turning pale.

Mr. Schuester furrowed his eyebrows. "Why do you want to know?" he asked Puck.

Puck shrugged as if he didn't care that much. "My sister wants to start taking dance lessons and I saw that he's the instructor. I just want to know what you think about him."

Mr. Schuester sighed. "Well here's my advice. Do not let her take lessons with him, he's a sick tyrant and should never be allowed to go anywhere near kids, or anyone else for that matter.

"Why not?" Puck asked.

"Well, he used to be the choreographer for Vocal Adrenaline, but then he got fired because a student complained he was abusing them. You know, mainly hitting their stomachs and upper thighs and arms to 'help them' " he said, reiterating everything Shelby told him. "They couldn't arrest him or anything because there wasn't any proof. So the school fired him, and now he teaches at a private dance school. Carmel High wasn't able to report the abuse, so when parents enroll their kids with Dakota Stanley, they have no idea, and then the kids become too scared, or too obsessed with winning to step forward." Mr. Schuester shook his head. "It's scary about how competitive and ruthless the show choir business is, and his students feel that the abuse is worth it. And yeah, you do need to push yourself and work hard if you want to be on broadway, but some things are not worth it."

Puck nodded and looked at Rachel to see her reaction. She refused to meet his eyes, instead looking down at her chair, her face bright red and her posture rigid. Apparently Mr. Schuester noticed this and turned his gaze to Rachel for a second too. He got a concerned look on his face and looked back at Puck, who gave him a meaningful look. Mr. Schuester pursed his lips, and then started addressing the group as if that hadn't happened.

After rehearsal, everyone started to leave when Mr. Schuester called out to Puck. "Puck, can you come over here please? I want to talk to you about your Spanish report."

Puck smiled. He had done well on his report and knew that Mr. Schuester didn't need to talk to him about his grades. He followed Mr. Schuester to his office and sat down when Mr. Schuester closed the door. Mr. Schuester sat down in his chair across from Puck and stared at him.

"Your sister isn't taking dance lessons, is she?"

It was more of a statement than a question, and Puck breathed a sigh of relief. Finally he would be able to tell someone about Rachel, and he knew that Mr. Schuester could help him.

"No, she's not." Puck replied.

Mr. Schuester leaned forward. "This has something to do with Rachel, doesn't it?" Puck looked up at his teacher. Mr. Schuester gave him a small smile. "You want to talk about it?" he gently asked Puck.

Puck sighed again. He knew he was breaking his promise to Rachel, but he also knew that it was getting out of hand.

"A few months ago," he started. "During rehearsals, I noticed Rachel had a hand shaped bruise on her arm. I figured something was up, and after a while, she told me she was being abused, but wouldn't say who. I tried finding out who it was, but she refused to give me any hint or anything. I eventually suspected that it was him, but I wanted to be sure. That's why I made up the lie about my sister, I wanted to see Rachel's reaction. And you saw it too, Mr. Schue didn't you?" he looked up at his teacher, with almost a pleading look in his eyes. "You saw her face, she might as well have shouted that…that it was him" he ended off in a low voice, an angry look in his eyes.

"Puck, why didn't you tell me? Or her dads, or anyone?" Mr. Schuester asked him, with a pained look on his face. He really felt for his kids, and hated the idea of someone hurting one of them.

"You don't think I wanted to?" Puck suddenly shouted. He jumped out of his chair, and started angrily pacing the office. "I wanted to say something, the second I saw the first bruise, never mind all the other bruises and scars I saw on her! I wanted to shout it from the rooftops, you don't think I didn't want to, every single damn time - " His voice caught, and he turned away from his teacher, running his hand through his Mohawk, trying to hold in the tears that had suddenly gathered in his eyes. But Mr. Schuester saw, and gently stood up and pulled Puck toward him, until Puck finally burst into tears, shedding all the tears he had been holding in for months now, while clutching the back of Mr. Schuester's shirt. Mr. Schuester continued to hold him, letting him let out all of his emotions. After a minute, Puck composed himself and stepped back, wiping his eyes with his shirtsleeves. He looked at his teacher, his eyes red-rimmed. "Please, Mr. Schuester, I need help, I can't do it by myself anymore," suddenly looking like his eight year old self, begging his father not to leave.

"Okay" Mr. Schuester said. "Talk to Rachel, tell her that you know it's him, and that it's only going to get worse. Rachel's a smart girl, she'll come to realize it herself eventually, but for right now, just keep a close eye on her, make sure nothing worse happens. I'm going to change some of our choreography so Rachel won't get hurt more, and that she'll be with you. If she's with other people, they'll start asking questions, and I don't think she's ready for that yet. Also, I'm going to try my hardest to help, but I think we need someone professional. Can I tell Ms. Pillsbury? I won't give any names, if you prefer."

Puck nodded. "Yeah, it'll be good to get a professional opinion. But don't say that it's Rachel, just say that it's someone you know, don't even say it's a student, because she'll figure out that it's Rachel."

Mr. Schuester smiled at him. "Okay. I'll leave all the specifics out. Thank you, and thank you for trusting me enough to tell me. I know this must have been difficult. And Puck?" Mr. Schue asked. Puck turned to face his teacher. "I'm always here, if you need to talk. About anything."

Puck nodded, and left the office.


	9. Abused Ch 7 Admitting

A.N- I'm sorry for the confusion, last chapter was chapter 6, this is chapter 7

Disclaimer- still don't own anything

Rachel drove to Puck's house right after she had dinner with her fathers. She knew that his mom was working the night shift and his sister was at a friend's house, so she just barged in.

"Noah Puckerman, what were you thinking?"

Puck looked up from the couch where he had been watching TV. "Hey Rach, good to see you too, can I get you anything?" he said slightly smirking.

Rachel plopped herself down on the couch next to him. "Cut the crap Puckerman, why did you ask about Dakota Stanley in glee today?"

Puck shut off the TV and looked at her. "Because I wanted to know the truth about him," he said gently. He lightly took her hand in his. "Rach, come on, please talk to me. He's the one isn't he?"

Rachel looked into his eyes and then burst into tears. Puck gathered her into his lap and let her cry, her head resting on his chest. After her tears subsided, she started speaking, her face still turned toward his chest.

"My original teacher had to go on maternity leave, and that she was moving out of Lima, so they told us we were getting a new instructor. When I first heard he was going to be the one teaching, I wanted to leave, but it was only a month away from our dance recital. So I stayed, and I promised myself that I would quit right after the performance. But then after the performance the manager of the theatre told me that some Broadway choreographers were coming next year, and that we were so lucky that we got Dakota Stanley because he's the best, and we could learn so much from him. So I stayed. And he wasn't bad at first, he either forgot, or didn't care about the time he came to help New Directions and I insulted him. He really was a genuinely good dance instructor, teaching us moves that we had never done before, and giving us tips and little exercises to do during the day that could help us stay stronger, like holding our abs in during the day, and stretching when we wake up and right before we go to bed to keep our bodies limber. But then…"

Rachel paused for a second, and Puck remained silent, giving her a chance to breathe and control herself before continuing her story.

"Then, we had to learn a new routine. I was trying to do a triple spin, but I lost my balance after the second spin and slammed into him. He shoved me off of him and told me that I was "nothing but a clumsy girl". I brushed it off as him trying to get me off of him, and to help me with my balance. But the next time, I was doing a flip with my partner, and one of us, I'm not sure whom, turned in the wrong direction and we collided. He pushed us down to the ground and slapped our legs. I was shocked, but I looked at my partner and all she did was stand up, so I figured that if she wasn't doing anything about it, why should I? And after that, it just kept continuing. _Keeps _continuing, I should say."

Puck lightly turned her chin upward toward his face so he could look her in the eye. "Rachel, I understand why you haven't done anything before, but now you have to quit. It keeps getting worse every day - don't deny it, I see the fresh bruises- and soon, it's going to kill you. Please, stop seeing him," he begged.

She shook her head. "Noah, I can't, I have a recital in six weeks, I can't leave my teammates now, and there are going to be _Broadway_ choreographers there, I can't miss that!"

Noah let out a breath. "Fine, but promise me something. You will leave that dance studio the minute the show is over. And you come to me right away if anything happens, I don't care what day, or what time it is, just come immediately. Okay?" he asked her, looking into her eyes. Rachel sniffed. "Okay" she said.

Puck wrapped his arms around her and she snuggled into him. He didn't let go until her dads called to tell her that it was time for curfew.


	10. Abused Ch 8 Partners

The next day at school, Puck knocked on Mr. Schuester's door. "Mr. Schue? Can I come in?"

Mr. Schuester raised his eyebrows. "Sure, but don't you have class now?" he asked.

Puck sat down on the chair across from him and shrugged. "It's math," he said, by way of explanation.

Mr. Schuester rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. He was curious about what his student came to talk to him about.

"I spoke to Rachel" Puck began. "She admitted that it's that Stanley douche who is hurting her, but she won't do anything about it because she has a recital in six weeks and there are going to be Broadway scouts there, and she doesn't want the other dancers mad at her. I don't like it, but she promised me that she'll leave him once the show is over, and unfortunately that's about as much as I can get from her."

Mr. Schuester nodded at him. "Good work Noah. I don't think anyone could get her to talk about it, let alone convince her to leave him after the show. You have done a great thing for her" he said, praising his student.

Puck blushed and gave a slight smile. "Thanks, Mr. Schue, but I also have a favor to ask you.

"Okay shoot" Mr. Schuester said, leaning back in his chair.

"Her competition's coming up soon, and I don't want Rachel to be too stressed out right now in case it ruins her focus, and gives Stanley any more excuses to hurt her. So, instead of doing a big choreography number, could we maybe do duets? And have Rachel and me as partners? I'm not saying to slack off in Glee or anything – Rachel would kill me if she thought I was trying to do that – but maybe hold off on the big numbers where she has to learn more choreography and have to deal with a lot of lifts and twirling and stuff. And if she's with me, we can do it so we'll do a song she already knows and easy choreography so she won't get hurt or overwork herself."

Mr. Schuester blinked at Puck. "You know, I should give you more credit. You really are a smart guy, that's a great idea. And don't worry, I'll give the assignment so it doesn't seem too obvious."

Puck smiled widely, happy that Mr. Schuester agreed and that he'll get to do a song with Rachel. Mr. Schuester saw the look on his face and the corner of his mouth lifted. Puck, seeing this, stood up, saying that it was time for his afternoon nap. Just as he was about to leave, Mr. Schuester called out to him.

"Of course, this has nothing to do with the fact that you want to do a song with Rachel."

Puck blushed and walked out the door.

True to his word, Mr. Schuester walked into Glee rehearsal with a list in his hands. "Okay guys, new assignment. I want to do another duets project. But it'll be different this time. _I'm_ going to choose partners, based on who I think could be compatible. I have the partners already picked out. Sam and Artie. Tina and Mercedes. Puck and Rachel…"

Puck smiled to himself. He liked how Mr. Schuester didn't put him and Rachel in the beginning or at the end of the list, so there would be less attention to their pairing. Rachel, who was sitting right in front of him, beamed widely at him. He winked back and saw that her cheeks turned a little pink before facing front again.

Mr. Schuester continued. "There's also one more aspect to this assignment. I want you to do a song that expresses yourselves as partners. You can do any song you want, but I want you to go all out on this, costumes and everything. You have two weeks. Good luck."

Puck was a little surprised about that last part, but figured that he had to do something different to this assignment than the other duets competitions to make the group not suspicious.

Rachel stood up and faced him. "Noah, we should get working on this right away. Come to my house tomorrow after school so we can try to find a song. I'll go through my music collection tonight to narrow down the list" she said, and grabbed her trolley and left the room. Puck knew she had a dance rehearsal soon, and she didn't want to risk being late. Lateness meant a slap on the head to remind them to look at a clock and remember when and where they were supposed to be. He knew that the second Rachel got home, she would get working on their song (he liked the sound of that) right away. But Puck wasn't going to make her do all the work. He was going to try and find a song for them to sing.


	11. chapter 9 choosing a song

After school the next day, Puck followed Rachel's car as they were driving to her house.

"I have a few ideas for songs - " she started to say, but Puck cut her off.

"Actually, I have an idea also. How about we do _Sunrise Sunset_ from Fiddler on the Roof. It's a musical about a Jewish family, I don't think we can find a more descriptive song about us than that." Rachel stared at him and he looked down. "Schindler's List isn't the only Jewish movie my mom makes us watch" he said.

Rachel smiled at him. "Wow Noah, you are right, that is a perfect song for us. I did have other ideas, but I like your song better."

Puck smirked. "Is this you admitting that someone else can pick songs better than you can?" he said, teasing.

Rachel smiled, knowing that he was teasing. "Well, there's always an exception to a rule. Especially in a situation that involves you."

Puck smiled back. "Don't worry, I won't tell everyone that I was the musical genius for this assignment" he flirted.

"I'll hold you to that" she said, flirting right back at him. Realizing what she was doing, she started to run upstairs to her room. "I have the song on my itunes, let me go get it" she called from her bedroom. Puck sat down on her couch, waiting for her to come back. "Hey, where are your dads?" he asked, once he heard her come back downstairs.

Rachel was plugging in her laptop to the stereo system. "Oh, they're out of town, they wanted to take a long weekend mini vacation. They asked me to come along, but I told them I didn't want to miss school, so they went without me."

_You didn't want to miss school, or you didn't want to miss dance class?_ He was tempted to say, but figured it would be best to keep his mouth shut about it. He knew Mr. Schuester was right, he finally got her to admit it; he wasn't going to push his luck. Yet.

Rachel turned back to him once she finished hooking the system up. "Here, I have the sheet music to the song, do you have the actual song at home?" she asked.

"Yeah, my mom likes to listen to the soundtrack. _Matchmaker _is one of her favorite songs," he said smirking. He wasn't joking though; she did love to play that song. Especially when he talked about Rachel.

"Great, so I think we should focus on the music first, because we'll be singing it with the band, but we want to make sure we get the beats right. And speaking of the band, we should keep it simple. I think the piano, and of course a violin, should be enough instruments," she said, while searching for something on the internet.

"What are you looking for?" he asked, reading over her shoulder to see that she was on Youtube.

"I want to find an instrumental version for us to practice with. For now, we should stick to the regular version, but we should eventually move to the instrumental version so we know what to expect when the live band joins us" she replied, scrolling through the many videos. "Ooh, I think I found one. I'll send you the link to practice with at home when we get to that stage. But now, let's work on our vocals."

After working with Rachel for a while on the vocals, he knew the lyrics well enough to do it with just the instrumental version. They were also only doing half of the song to keep it short and simple, so it wasn't hard to pick up. Rachel would have started talking about choreography with him, but he had to go, he knew his mom wanted him home for dinner so they could talk for a little before Mrs. Puckerman had to leave for her shift, and he could watch his sister.

"So did anything interesting happen today" his mom asked him at dinner.

Puck shrugged and figured he should tell her about the duet. "I got paired up with Rachel for a duet assignment in Glee. We're doing _Sunrise Sunset_."

"Oh, Noah that's a wonderful song. Aren't you glad I made you watch the movie all those times?" she said, clearly elated with this new assignment. Puck shrugged, trying to pretend that he didn't care when inside he really was thankful she gave him such a good song to do.

"Have you thought of how you're going to dance to it?" his mom asked.

"Well, Rachel was all for planning the entire thing tonight, but I figured we should work on one thing at a time."

Mrs. Puckerman got a bright look in her eyes. "Do you know what would be lovely? You should do a ballroom dance to it, it will set the mood, give it the wedding feeling like it is in the actual performance."

Puck thought it over. It would be a good way to solve the choreography problem, they wouldn't have to do major steps or anything that would be hard to learn or painful to do. He looked at his mom sharply to see if she guessed something about Rachel, but her expression remained neutral. She was either faking her ignorance or just had super Jewish mother intuition. He was going with the intuition. His mom was always creepily right when it came to that.

"Sounds good" Puck said, turning back to his meal. "I'll run the idea by Rachel, see what she thinks."


	12. Abused ch 10 Learning the Steps

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything

On Friday after school, Puck and Rachel were once again at Rachel's house. Rachel had her laptop and with what looked like a portfolio of papers.

"I was thinking about the choreography," she started "and I think that since we are performing the famous wedding scene from one of the most widely known Jewish musicals, we should do a ballroom dance, to enhance the wedding feel and make it truly authentic."

Puck just blinked at her. "You don't like the idea?" Rachel asked, with slight vulnerability in her voice.

"No, I love it" he quickly reassured her. "It's just weird, my mom said the exact same thing yesterday."

"Well, it must be a Jewish women's thing" Rachel replied, laughing. "But I'm glad you like it. So I think we should go with a traditional dance, it will be simple choreography, and keep up with the era during which the show takes place."

"That sounds great" Puck said. "But, um, there's one slight problem. I don't know how to ballroom dance."

"That's okay" Rachel said, walking over to stand next to him. "We'll start with a simple box step. So you first stand with your legs together. Then you move your right foot to the right, and have the left foot follow" As she said this, she moved her legs to show a physical demonstration. "Then move your right foot back, and your left follows again. Now cross your right foot over the left and this time the left foot moves first to the left and your right follows. Then, move your right foot up, with your left behind it, and we're back to the beginning."

"Let's try it together now, " she suggested. "I'll go slowly, we'll start on three. One, two, three and right slide, left follow. Right back, left follow. Right cross over left, left slide, right follow, right up, left up." She and Puck were doing the moves as she said them. Puck was naturally a good dancer so he picked up on the moves pretty quickly. "Okay, now you do it yourself."

They did this a few more times, at first starting with Rachel saying the steps, then letting Puck do the steps himself. "Okay, so now we do the same move, but after the fourth step when we complete the box, you're going to turn diagonally and do the box step again." She demonstrated the two moves and then Puck did them himself.

"Good, now after we do the second box step, we pivot by each turn." Again, Rachel demonstrated first and Puck followed. "You're doing great" Rachel complimented Puck. "Now, do them all together." Puck did it, and after he finished the three movements perfectly, they did it with Rachel counting the beats like how it would sound with the music.

They did this a few more times and when he got them, Rachel clapped her hands excitedly.

"You ready to do it with the real music?" she asked. "We can then do it with just the instruments and then we'll work on the rest of the dance." Puck agreed, and did both perfectly.

"You're doing a great job" Rachel praised him. "Do you want to work on the rest now?"

Puck looked at his watch and saw that it was getting late. "I would, but my mom's shift starts soon, so I have to go."

"Okay," Rachel said, standing up. "But we want to get this down quickly, so I made a Powerpoint of the steps with footprints moving, and the written instructions alongside it, and also the lyrics of the song underneath so you get the beat. I e-mailed the link to you so you can study it at home, and then we can get together again tomorrow."

Puck chuckled at her. "You made me a powerpoint?" he asked, slightly incredulous.

"Well, I wanted to be thorough" she explained herself, blushing a little.

Puck slowly walked over to her, and lightly put his hand on her shoulder. "You are so cute" he said. "I'll study the powerpoint tonight, and we'll do it tomorrow."

Rachel blushed at his compliment. "Thank you" she said. She started to walk Puck to the door when he turned around to kiss her on the forehead. Rachel closed her eyes, and as he let her go, she looked down and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear shyly. "I'll be here at twelve tomorrow, is that okay?" Puck asked. Rachel nodded. "That's perfect," she said.

Puck smiled and walked out the door.


	13. abused ch 11 Shall We Dance?

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything**

True to his word, Puck arrived at noon. After Rachel let him in, offering food and drinks that he declined, they moved to the living room where they had been practicing.

"Did you like the powerpoint?" Rachel asked him.

"Yeah" Puck replied. "I especially loved the written instructions with stars as bulletpoints."

Rachel blushed. "I kind of have a thing for stars"

"I noticed" Puck said smiling. "Why is that, by the way?"

Rachel looked down. "It reminds me that I'm a star, that I can do anything. My dads told me that my talent shines so bright, it looks like a star. They even got me a gold bangle with stars on them when I was little; I wore it everyday for years."

Puck looked down at her wrist. It was bare, no bracelet in sight. "You're not wearing it now." He pointed out.

Rachel looked up again. "I stopped wearing it a while ago, it's a child's toy, not reality."

Puck had a funny feeling he knew exactly when she stopped wearing it, but he didn't want to upset her. He made sure though, to look in her eyes, with an expression saying that he knew. Predictably, Rachel dropped the subject.

"Okay, so I know you have the basic movements down so let's do them together. After we do the three box steps, we do a tight spin, and then on the chorus, take your left hand and spin me out, then I'll take hold of your right hand, and you spin me out and in again. That will be during the words 'Sunrise, Sunset'. Let's try it out, starting from the pivoted box step." They did this part flawlessly, Puck had made sure to really study the powerpoint well, so it was easy to follow Rachel's directions.

"Good, you've got this part down. Then on the word 'swiftly,' you twirl me under your arm slowly until the word 'years'. Then, we do another box step, we spin in a circle, and you dip me and I come back up." Rachel did these movements standing in front of him so he could watch her. "You want to do the second part again all together?" she suggested. Puck did the second half perfectly. Rachel was about to start speaking again, when Puck interrupted.

"I love your moves, but I have an idea. Instead of another box step after I twirl you, how about we push out and let go of each other's hands for a second, and then move back together and do the 'glee circle'?"

"The glee circle?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You know, like when we do Don't Stop Believing, on the words "on and on" we spin together holding on to each other's waists." Puck shrugged. "I don't know, I just thought it would be different from doing all the box steps, and it's kind of Glee's signature move isn't it? And we're supposed to express ourselves, and Glee Club kind of does express us."

"Wow, Noah, that's a great idea!" Rachel exclaimed. "You're right, we do have an abundance of box steps, and this movement is very telling of our relationship to one another; Glee is, of course, the catalyst of how we became friends."

"Thanks" Puck replied, running his hand through his Mohawk, a little embarrassed. "Should we do the second half with the movement?"

"Yes, and then we can try to do the whole dance from start to finish, and if we do it well enough, do you want to try it how we would actually do it as partners? I already learned the steps by myself, so I know the steps."

"Sounds good, let's do it with my addition." Puck was a little proud, being able to say "my" addition; he really wanted to help Rachel and didn't want her to overwork herself, especially with the dance competition being so close.

They did the whole movement with Puck's addition, adding another movement of Rachel spinning into Puck, which transitioned automatically into his dipping her down and up. After Rachel had Puck do it again all on his own, without Rachel's demonstration or spoken instructions, they did it as partners. Rachel was very set on their doing it perfect. It was a little different than when he did it himself, but Rachel took it slow so he could get used to the change. Eventually, it got easier, especially when it came to the dips and spins because he now had someone to actually dip and spin. After they got it a few times with Puck able to do it, even with just looking at her, and not his feet, Rachel asked,

"Do you want to do it with the music now?"

After a second's hesitation, Puck nodded. He was a little nervous that the music would distract him from the moves, but after seeing the excited look on Rachel's face, there was no way he could say no.

"Okay" he agreed. "Just don't expect me to get it right away, my brain is only capable of concentrating on one thing at a time" he joked.

"Don't worry Noah" she reassured him. "I have plenty of faith in you".

Puck smiled and signaled for her to start the music. They did the dance, although they didn't dance as well, Puck's movements were a little off. He always did well in Glee whenever they had to learn new choreography, but they usually have more than two days to rehearse, and he's also with only one person now, instead of the entire club. At the end of the song, Rachel turned off the music. "Perhaps we've been working too hard, we can stop here and finish getting the moves right a different night."

"No" Puck refused. He knew that Rachel had dance class the next day and didn't want her to stress herself. "My problem was that I was concentrating too hard on the words, I'll do it this time like you always say in Glee, just let my body 'feel' the music."

Rachel smiled, happy that he wanted to finish today and that he remembered something she said in rehearsal. "You remember what I say in Glee Club? I thought everyone just tunes me out. At least, that's the impression I got."

Puck ran his hand through his mohawk, a gesture he always did when he was either nervous or embarrassed. "I know it seems like it, and I can't speak for everyone else, but I've learned to just listen to every three words so I still get the gist, without the constant babble" he smirked, letting her know that he was joking. But he was lying, he made a point of listening to everything she said, especially over the last few months when he first discovered her abuse. "So, should we put your theory into practice?"

Rachel beamed. "Whenever you're ready."

Puck nodded again and waited for the cue to start. As soon as Tevye started singing, he started dancing, but not like before. He wasn't concentrating deeply on just the music or just the steps. He let his body remember, like how he would if he was trying to play a song on the guitar but couldn't remember the chords, he would just shut his eyes and let his hands just flow.

Once they reached the end, doing it perfectly, Rachel squealed excitedly and threw her arms around him in a big hug. A little surprised, but not reluctant, he laughed and wrapped his arms around her as well.

"This is so amazing Noah" she complimented him. "We have made so much progress, from now on, we just need to work with the instrumentals, and then add our own singing."

"Cool" Puck said. "When do you want to practice next?" he asked.

Rachel looked down. "I have dance rehearsal all day tomorrow, and then my dads come back the day after, so I guess on Monday?"

Puck sighed, knowing what dance rehearsal would entail. "Okay. You get some rest, I have to go home now anyways." He then looked into her eyes, making sure she was listening. "And again, seriously. PLEASE call me if you need anything. Really, I don't care what time, day, or anything. I just want you to be safe, okay?"

Rachel buried herself back into his arms, and nodded. "I promise"

Puck gave her a last fleeting smile with a concerned expression before leaving her house, desperate for Monday to come without any problems.


	14. Abused ch 12 The Wedding Dress

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything

Author's Note: I am so sorry, I haven't had any internet service for almost a month so that's why I haven't updated in a while, but I'll try to have most of it typed up so I can upload faster once I get service back. But please, don't leave me! I know how I want the rest of the story to go, so just be patient with me!

Over the next week, Rachel and Puck started rehearsing at his house. Puck's mom was gone during most of the afternoon, so Rachel wouldn't need to hide her bruises, and also this way, Puck had someone to help with his sister Tamar in the evenings.

It was a few days before their scheduled performance when they were sitting at his kitchen table when Mrs. Puckerman walked in for dinner. She was elated that Rachel had been staying over the past week, she saw how much happier her son was, and figured that he liked her, and was almost positive that Rachel liked him back.

"So how's the song going?" Mrs. Puckerman asked.

"Well, the singing and the choreography is going amazingly well, we have the vocals and the moves down perfectly, we're just having a hard time with the costumes" Rachel started. "Noah told me that you suggested wedding attire, and I agree, I think it's a wonderful idea. For Noah, it's not a problem; he can just wear a suit. We're just having a hard time finding something suitable for me to wear. I don't have any wedding type dresses, and as much as I love Glee, I'm not going to buy a wedding dress. Noah already talked me out of it."

Mrs. Puckerman gave her a questioning look, not sure if Rachel was serious about her considering buying a wedding dress for the competition or not. Rachel saw her look and smiled. "I was kidding, I wouldn't really buy a wedding dress for this competition. But I am getting pretty desperate."

"Well, you can borrow mine." Mrs. Puckerman offered.

"Oh," Rachel started, taken aback. "I wasn't sure if you still had your wedding dress."

Mrs. Puckerman smiled. "I may not be with my ex-husband anymore, but I didn't see a need to get rid of such a beautiful dress."

Actually, that wasn't completely true, she had been saving the dress in the hopes that someday it would be worn again, and not even necessarily by her. She knew the probability that if Noah got married and his bride would want to wear her wedding dress was very small, but she still hoped.

Rachel shared a glance with Puck, silently asking him if he was okay with her wearing his mom's wedding dress. After seeing him nod, she smiled happily at Mrs. Puckerman. "That would be perfect, thank you"

The older woman smiled back. "Here, I have it upstairs, we can see if it fits, although I'm pretty sure it will, I'm not that much taller than you, so if you wear heels, it should be fine," she said, and grabbed Rachel's hand and dragged her upstairs.

Mrs. Puckerman walked in her room and started searching around her closet. "You'll be wearing heels, but let's try the dress on first, and then figure out shoes" she said. Rachel gingerly sat down on the bed and looked around the room. Mrs. Puckerman put pictures of her kids all over the walls. Rachel couldn't resist smiling at a picture of Puck's bar mitzvah. This was during his pre-mohawk days, when his hair was thick and curly, so his kippah was perched very awkwardly on his head.

"Thanks again for letting me wear your dress, Mrs. Puckerman." Rachel said.

Puck's mom came out of her closet, holding a garment bag. "It's my pleasure, and please, call me Sarah."

She set the bag on the bed, and unzipped it to reveal her long white dress. Sarah took it out and held it out for Rachel to try on. "You can use my bathroom, just come out when you're finished and then we can see if it needs alterations."

Rachel did as she said, and came out of the bathroom a few minutes later with the dress on. "Oh, Rachel, you look beautiful!" Sarah exclaimed. "Come take a look in the mirror and see for yourself."

Rachel stood on the little footstool Mrs. Puckerman placed in front of the mirror, looked up and gasped. The dress was perfect, the bodice was made of a satiny material that flared out to her skirt, but not too much that it would be difficult to dance in. The neck of the dress and the long sleeves were covered in lace, so it hid her bruises without looking obvious. It was just the perfect touch of a simple, classic wedding look, without being too old-fashioned, which fit perfectly with the song. "Wow," she breathed out, running her hands over the material. "It's beautiful."

Mrs. Puckerman came forward to look at the hem. "The dress is short enough that it reaches just under your ankles, so you won't need to wear too high heels, probably just an inch or so."

Rachel didn't answer; she couldn't stop staring at her reflection. She suddenly had a lump in her throat, watching Mrs. Puckerman fussing with the dress. It felt like all those stories she had read of little girls playing dress up in their moms' wedding dresses, or her friends recounting how their mom helped the shop for prom dresses. She had never had that before, and having it finally done with her by someone else's mom brought tears to her eyes. Mrs. Puckerman noticed, and straightened up and turned Rachel toward her. "What's the matter sweetie?" she asked kindly.

Rachel sniffed, trying to hold the tears in. "It's nothing, just, um…" she trailed off, unsure about what to say next. "I-I just had some dust in my eye, I'm fine now."

Mrs. Puckerman knew Rachel was lying and discreetly looked away so Rachel wouldn't think she saw her crying about the mother-daughter moment. As it was, a few tears escaped Rachel's eyes, which she hastily wiped away. "We should go downstairs, see how I can dance in this, she said and started to walk downstairs. But before she could open the door, Mrs. Puckerman put her hand out to stop her. "You can't go down in the dress! It's bad luck if the groom sees the bride in her dress before the wedding!" she said, trying to lighten the moment. Rachel blushed deeply, but it worked, she was no longer crying. "Okay, I'll change, and then we can figure out shoes and hair and makeup."

Meanwhile, downstairs, Puck sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hands. He knew his mom's thoughts about her wedding dress, and the idea of Rachel, the girl he liked, upstairs, with his mom trying on her wedding dress both elated and terrified him. He really liked that Rachel felt comfortable with his mom, especially because he knew she didn't have a relationship with Shelby- which reminded him that he hadn't updated Shelby on Rachel's situation in a while and made a mental note to call her soon.

But the idea of Rachel in a wedding gown? Specifically the gown potentially meant for his future wife? Did he really want that? Puck thought about it, and thought of how he had been trying to protect her these past months, and how he wanted to always protect her, he knew that on some level, he did want to be with Rachel. Not now obviously, they were still so young, and they still had to deal with her abuse, but yes, he thought that somewhere down the line, he really couldn't imagine being with anyone else. And this thought scared him more than anything. Mainly, he was scared that Rachel didn't feel this way also. He thought she liked him, but he couldn't be sure if her actions were out of gratitude for helping her, or because she really liked him.

Just as he was thinking this, he heard Rachel and his mom coming downstairs. At first he was a little upset that Rachel wasn't in her wedding gown, but then again, maybe seeing Rachel for the first time in a wedding gown in front of his mom would be a little awkward; seeing her alone would already be hard on his feelings, he didn't want to say or do something that he would later regret doing in public. But then he looked at her face and the thought flew from his head. He could tell that she had been crying and he wanted to know why. He sent a questioning glance at his mom, but her expression told him they would talk about it later, in private.

"Okay, we have the dress, it fits perfectly. Now we just need to see the height difference so we know how much of a heel Rachel will need."

"Okay, but if the dress fits, why isn't she wearing it now, won't it be easier to tell that way?" he asked.

His mom smiled wickedly. "As I already told Rachel, it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride in the dress beforehand." At these words, both Rachel and Puck blushed at the thought of this being a real wedding.

Still silently laughing to herself, Mrs. Puckerman straightened up. "Okay, Noah go get your dress shoes, they add extra height so we need to make the heels the same height difference while you're dancing." Puck did as she asked, and raced upstairs to get his shoes, and then raced right back down once he had them. He was a little wary to leave his mom in a room with Rachel alone, especially after the bride-groom comment.

As soon as Puck had the shoes on, Mrs. Puckerman had Rachel stand in front of him, in the first dancing position. "Okay, now Rachel, I want you to stand on your toes until you're at a comfortable height". Puck put one hand lightly on Rachel's waist and held her hand with his other one.

"Okay, now Rachel, look Noah in the eye, and raise up until you're both at comfortable dance level." Clearly, Mrs. Puckerman was having fun at their expense, but Rachel did as she said. As she and Noah held on to each other and looked into each other's eyes, she slowly raised herself higher and higher until she could see him perfectly. Staring at each other like this, it became a little hard for both of them to breathe.

"Okay, that's perfect," Puck's mom said. She examined the area between the ground and her feet and estimated it to being an inch and a half. "Do you have shoes with a 1 ½ inch heel?"

Rachel lowered her feet back to the ground and looked away from Noah so she would be able to answer Sarah's question. "I have silver pumps about that height, I could bring them tomorrow." She said, dropping Noah's hand. Her hands now feeling slightly empty, she made a show of pushing her hair behind her ears.

Sarah smiled. "Good, now for the hair and makeup. You should keep up with the simple wedding feeling so I think you should put half of your hair into a bun, with the bottom half of your hair in light curls. And don't use a lot of makeup, just some mascara and light eyeshadow. As for jewelry, some people have the custom that the bride gives away some of her jewelry for the actual wedding part to their single friends for luck, so I say you should go without jewelry entirely. You don't need it, and it will simply detract from your natural beauty."

Rachel blushed at the compliment, but was pleased at the same time.

"Well, I think that covers the costume issue, right?" Mrs. Puckerman asked.

"Yeah, mom, thanks, you helped a lot" Puck said.

Puck's mom pretended to look shocked. "A compliment from my son? Wow, I must have helped a lot. Rachel, please stick around, you seem to be teaching my son some manners. Maybe you can get Tamar to stop listening to that Justin Bieber music"

"Oh, please," Puck said, rolling his eyes at his mom's sarcasm. "Rachel would go right along singing with Tamar, making harmonies to that Bieber crap."

"Oh, Bieber crap Noah? I'm sorry, who was it that put on a wig to sing along to Somebody to Love?" Rachel teased

At that moment, Tamar Puckerman walked in. "Noah! You know Somebody to Love! Why didn't you tell me? Can you play it on guitar? Oh, hi mom, Rachel" she said all this very quickly, finally acknowledging the other people in the room.

Puck mock glared at Rachel. "Now look at what you've gotten me into! I'll never hear the end of this!" he exclaimed overdramatically to go back to a relaxed feeling; he could tell Rachel was feeling awkward, so he wanted her to get comfortable again.

Rachel smiled at him. "Don't worry, I have it covered. Tamar," she said turning to the girl, "how about if you and I sing a Miley Cyrus song, we only make Noah do Baby once, and that's it."

Tamar thought it over. "Okay, but I get to make him do Justin Bieber songs for my birthday or when he gets in trouble and needs me to cover for him"

"What kind of trouble?" Mrs. Puckerman asked, suspicious of her children.

"Wow, it's getting late Ma, shouldn't you be on your way to work now?" Puck interrupted. He picked up her coat and keys. "You don't want to be late, especially since Dr. Rodriguez is setting up a new schedule, maybe he'll get you off the graveyard shift."

Puck's mom smirked at her son's poor distraction tactics. "Okay, I'm going, but don't think I'm going to forget this conversation. Don't forget to clean up from dinner, and make sure that Tamar goes to bed on time."

Puck smirked. "Don't worry Ma, I'll take good care of her."

Mrs. Puckerman poked him on the arm. "Be nice. Have a good night, Rachel, you can stay as long as you want."

Rachel smiled. "Thanks Mrs. Puckerman, I'll see you tomorrow!"

Noah and Tamar called out their goodbyes as Mrs. Puckerman left. After locking the door, Puck turned to Tamar with a mock angry look in his eyes. "Tamar…" he started, but Tamar shrieked and raced up to her room. Laughing, Puck turned back to Rachel. "She's good. Do you want to watch a movie or something?" he asked her.

Rachel smiled. "That's sweet, but I should get home, I'm a little tired and I want to rest up for tomorrow."

Actually, it was sort of a lie. She was tired, but not physically, she had been used to running on little energy. She was emotionally drained though. Between the moment with the wedding dress and seeing how the Puckermans all interacted with each other made her realize that her childhood was different. She loved her dads, but they were working a lot or going on extravagant trips. Rachel wasn't upset with them, she knew they loved her, and they worked hard and deserved the vacations they took, but a part of her wished that she had a "normal" lifestyle.

Puck accepted this, and walked her to her car. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, you're coming over after dance rehearsal right?" he asked.

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, I'm coming. I'll see you in the morning Noah, and thanks for tonight. Especially your mom." She paused for a second here. "She's a great woman, I hope you realize that."

Puck smiled. "I know. I'm lucky to have her. But you know, she's willing and able to be a mom to three kids."

Rachel smiled at his implication that Mrs. Puckerman could be a maternal role model for her. "Thank you Noah, I appreciate that. A lot."

Puck smiled and waved as she drove home.


	15. Abused Ch 13 Sunrise Sunset

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything

The next two days, Rachel and Puck rehearsed at his house in costume. Mrs. Puckerman was still adamant about her wedding dress superstition, so they didn't rehearse in the dress, but they did wear their shoes.

The night before their performance, after practicing their song for the seventh time, where they had done it perfectly seven times, Rachel stood up to put the music on again so they could practice some more, but Puck put his hand on her arm to stop her. "Rachel," he said "we have done it perfectly every time, if we do it anymore, we'll screw up and just exhaust ourselves. Let's just sit down and relax." Puck could see that Rachel was wavering when he stopped her again. "I'll make you some tea with honey and lemon," he added as another incentive.

Rachel slumped against him in agreement. Truthfully, she would have given in, even without the tea; she was exhausted.

After Puck sat down on the couch next to her with two mugs of hot tea, he wrapped an arm around Rachel and she snuggled against him.

"How's dance going?" he quietly asked.

Rachel took a sip of tea. "Exhausting" she replied. "Practice is getting harder and longer with almost no breaks."

Puck looked at her, concerned. "Has he been hitting you lately?" This was the first time they spoke so matter of factly about it, but Rachel was so tired, it didn't even register.

"No, it's too close to the show and he doesn't want our bruises to be seen. He just pushes us so hard. I feel like I haven't had a proper sleep in weeks, and my muscles ache all the time."

Puck put his cup down. "Turn around," he said. Curious about what he was going to do, Rachel obediently turned so her back was to him. The second she felt his hands massaging her back she immediately relaxed.

Rachel wasn't lying, her entire back was beyond tight, so he tried to relax the muscles as much as he could. "Your recital's in two weeks right?"

"Yeah," Rachel replied. "It's the Saturday after next, and he's forcing us to go to rehearsals every day, so that's sixteen more rehearsals."

"And then we go to the police" Puck stated.

"We?" Rachel asked.

Puck turned her back around so he could look at her. "Did you really think I'd let you go by yourself? I'm going to be there the entire time."

Rachel gave him a small smile. "Thank you, Noah. It really means a lot to me."

"Not a problem." Puck answered back. He checked his watch and saw it was getting late. "You should go get some sleep, you're going to want to be fresh for tomorrow."

Rachel smiled tiredly. "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow Noah," she said, standing up.

Puck stood up as well, and walked her to her car. Before she went in though, he tugged her arm, pressed a kiss to her cheek, and hugged her to him for a long time. Rachel closed her eyes at the sensation, and hugged him back as well.

After about a minute, Puck released Rachel and let her go. "Go sleep so we can kick some ass tomorrow."

Rachel smiled at his typical response and waved at him as she pulled away.

At 3:00 the next day, Rachel stood behind stage waiting in the wings in her dress, with her hair and makeup done, nervously waiting for Noah to finish changing. He was going to enter from the opposite side, so he still won't see her until they actually walked on stage.

Rachel then saw Puck across the stage, and signaled for the band to start the interlude and set the stage lights. Puck walked on first, looking extremely handsome in his suit. Then, Rachel stepped out.

-Puck's POV-

The second Puck saw Rachel glide across the stage in her dress, his breath caught. She was stunning; she had followed his mom's advice about the hair and makeup and looked so beautiful and angelic. He could have just stood there staring at her, until he heard a gasp from one of the glee members sitting in the audience, and it propelled him to meet her in the middle of the stage. Just as their part was about to start, Puck took hold of Rachel's body and started singing to the music while doing the dance step.

**Is this the little girl I carried **

**Is this the little boy at play**

Rachel took over here.

_I don't remember growing older_

_When did they?_

They started the second set of box steps and Puck took over singing again.

**When did she get to be a beauty**

**When did he grow to be so tall?**

Rachel started singing again:

_Wasn't it yesterday when they were small?_

Here, the band played by itself and they moved in a circle until the chorus started, where they both started singing, and Puck spun her in and out.

_**Sunrise, Sunset**_

_**Sunrise, Sunset**_

Puck slowly spun her under one arm.

_**Swiftly flow the days,**_

Now, they pushed out and did the Glee circle.

_**Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers**_

_**Blossoming even as we gaze.**_

Now they repeated the second set for the rest of the chorus.

_**Sunrise, Sunset**_

_**Sunrise, Sunset**_

_**Swiftly fly the years**_

_**One season following another**_

_**Laden with happiness and tears.**_

At this last phrase, Puck lowered Rachel into a dip and slowly raised her back up, one arm behind her back, and the other holding her hand.

Puck stared deep into her eyes, forgetting for one minute that they were on stage in the middle of Glee Club, forgetting about the abuse Rachel was going through; he could only see her eyes, bright and piercing, as if she could see right into his soul.

Rachel herself saw a multitude of emotions playing in Noah's eyes and they both found it hard to breathe. The spell was broken however, when they heard the rest of the glee club cheering from the audience. Puck let go of Rachel, and took a bow while Rachel curtsied, still holding on to each other's hands though.

Mr. Schuester spoke into the microphone from his seat in the auditorium. "Wow! That was perfect, that is exactly what I wanted. Puck and Rachel, you guys really expressed your personalities and committed to it 100%. Really great job guys!"

Noah grinned widely and picked Rachel up and spun her out of happiness. Rachel was blushing at this public display of affection, but hugged him back just as tight, elated about how well their performance went.

"Oh, by the way, our dance was being recorded, I know my mom would never believe that I could pull of a ballroom dance without proof, I hope you don't mind" Puck said.

Rachel smiled cheekily at him. "Well, it's a little late to tell me that, now that you already recorded it, but it is perfectly fine. I like to record all of my personal performances so that when I am a broadway star, my children will get to see me how I was before I was famous, and that one day in the future, those videos and pictures will be auctioned off as museum pieces"

It was such a Rachel comment that Puck had to laugh, and brought her off stage. "You wanna go get a coffee after we change out of our costumes?" he asked.

"That would be lovely, and we can also drop off the dress on our way there." Rachel replied.

"Cool, I'll wait for you by the car. I hear wedding dresses take a while to get out of," he then paused "of course, I can always help you getting it off if you need any assistance," he finished with a smirk.

Rachel playfully shoved him. "I think I can manage on my own, thank you very much. I'll be quick, there's only a zipper in the back, not the thousand buttons that most wedding dresses have."

Puck smiled back. "Okay, I get the message, I'll see you outside."

A few minutes later, Rachel walked to Puck's car in her regular school clothes with the wedding dress back in it's bag over one arm, and the bag with her heels on the other. Puck was quick to take both bags, and lightly put them in the back seat instead of throwing them in, knowing that Rachel- and his mom- would give him an earful if he did.

"Thank you," Rachel said as he did this. "That is very chivalrous of you."

"Well, I have to treat my bride with respect, don't I?" Puck replied, winking at her. Rachel rolled her eyes at him, but couldn't hide her smile. "Okay, O husband of mine. You can keep up respecting your bride by paying for her coffee," she joked.

"Deal"

After dropping off the gown, and getting their coffee, Puck drove Rachel home.

"Noah, I really can't thank you enough. Our whole performance could not have gone better, and it is largely thanks to you." Rachel said to him.

"Me?" Puck asked. "I believe that you were the one who made a star bulletpointed powerpoint of our entire dance, not me."

"Well, you thought of the song didn't you? And you added your step, which enhanced the personality aspect of the assignment, like Mr. Schuester said." Rachel replied back.

"Alright, how about we call it even," Puck suggested.

"Alright, that sounds adequate" Rachel relented, as she was about to open the door. She stopped, turned to face Puck and lightly squeezed his hand. Puck smiled and threaded their hands together. After a minute, Rachel tugged her hand out of his and really opened the door this time.

"I've had a great time working with you Noah," she said. "Can I still come over, even though we're not partners anymore?"

Puck smiled. "We _were_ friends in the first place," he said, referring to his parting words during their breakup. "I'd love to have you come over. Plus, Tamar still wants to do that duet with you."

Rachel laughed. "Okay. I'll see you in school tomorrow, and I'll try to come over after dance class."

"Okay. See you tomorrow Rachel"


	16. Abused ch 14 Recording

**Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own anything**

Over the next two weeks, Puck saw very little of Rachel. She had dance practice everyday until very late at night, and when she did go home, she only had enough energy to eat dinner and go to sleep. She couldn't even hang out with him at lunch because that was when she would catch up on all her homework.

Puck was really genuinely worried for Rachel. He saw how everyday she was getting more and more tired, he honestly didn't know how she kept herself awake for classes and rehearsal- he then later found out that she was substituting meals with red bulls and coffee, the only thing that would work. Usually she avoided any caffeinated drinks like the plague, claiming it will do damage to her health, but she was now drinking them like water. The only thing giving Puck small comfort was that Dakota Stanley didn't hit her anymore, for appearances' sake, like Rachel said.

It was Friday night, the day before the show when the thing Puck had been dreading the whole time came true. He was the only one awake, his sister was already sleeping and his mom was at the night shift. He was just thinking of playing some Call of Duty when he got a text from Rachel

_Are you home alone?_

Puck furrowed his eyebrows. Rachel hadn't stopped by in a while, and when she did, she usually liked when his mom and sister were there, she claimed it was nice being with people who had a strong estrogen level for a change- her gay fathers were _not_ included, as she had told him many times.

_My mom's at the hospital and Tamar's asleep_ Puck replied.

A second later his phone beeped again with another text message from Rachel.

_I'm coming over_

Now Puck was really worried. Usually she always asked if she could come over, even though the answer was always yes, and when she did, her requests were always longwinded and wordy.

_Are you okay?_ He typed back, but Rachel just replied _I'll tell you when I get to you_.

A few minutes later, Puck heard a frantic knock on the door and ran to open it. The second he did though he only had a very quick glance at Rachel before she launched herself into his arms and burst out crying.

Puck wasn't sure what to do. He was a little afraid to hold her, in case Stanley went back on his no bruises rule, but when Rachel clung to him even tighter, he felt it was safe to wrap his arms around her as well. He kept whispering soothing noises, repeating that she was safe, and that he was there, until she finally stopped crying and was able to pull away.

What Puck saw made his heart stop. Rachel was _covered _in bruises and scratch marks, way more than all the other times he had seen over the past months of knowing.

"Oh my gosh, Rach, what happened?" he asked, leading her over to the couch.

Rachel sat down and sniffed, trying to keep her tears back before speaking. "The other day, I was thinking about what Mr. Schuester said about Stanley not being arrested because it was only he-said she-said, and they couldn't do anything until they had actual proof. So then, your comment about videotaping our performance as proof for your mom got me thinking that if I caught him abusing me on tape, then that would definitely count as evidence. But I only thought of this after he stopped hitting us. So tonight I knew I had to do something."

Rachel took a deep breath, and continued speaking in a monotone voice. "I brought my video camera into practice, and hid it in my bag so he couldn't tell what I was doing, but I was still able to catch everything. So I purposely messed up my entire dance moves for my solo tonight, to make him mad. Finally after missing my cue for the big finish he freaked out." Rachel's eyes began to fill with tears. "He pushed me to the ground and just kept punching and kicking me all over my body. He got me facedown, with his knee on my back, holding me down when I heard him remove his belt. I was so scared, I thought he would… but he didn't. He raised my shirt a little so he could whip my back and my arms and legs over and over again, until they started to bleed." By now, the tears were flowing freely from her eyes, and her voice was getting all choked up. "I started crying and screaming, but it only seemed to make him more angry, so he just kept whipping and punching me again, and again. It felt like hours until he finally let me up and kicked me out. I grabbed my bag and ran out the room before he could do anything else, and I just didn't know what to do next, so I came here. But I did it Noah, I got him on tape!"

Puck didn't know how to respond. Rachel clearly thought she did the right thing, but she looked like she went to hell and back. Some of her wounds were still bleeding, and she now had the showings of bruises all along her arms and legs, she hadn't even stopped to change out of her dance clothes. Seeing the tears cascading over her cheeks broke his heart, and he gathered her into his arms again, and waited for her to finish crying.

"You did great Rachel," he reassured her. "But we have to treat your wounds immediately, before it gets any worse."

Puck walked into the laundry room, where they kept the first-aid kit. "Where are the worst cuts?" he asked, trying to keep his voice calm and steady, although what he really wanted was to go to Stanley's house and beat him up.

"On my back" Rachel replied. "That's where the belt had the most contact"

He very slowly sat behind her and lifted the back of her shirt until it reached her shoulder blades. There were long belt shaped welts, many of which were deep and bleeding. Puck carefully put some antiseptic on it, trying to keep Rachel as comfortable as possible while the stinging liquid touched her back. After putting on the alcohol, he started bandaging up the cut areas. "Where else?" he asked softly.

"The backs of my legs, and my shoulders, but my clothes covered those areas, so I don't think they're as badly hurt as my back." She responded in a small voice.

"Do you want me to check, or would you feel more comfortable looking yourself?" Rachel thought about it, and agreed to let him do it. "I'm a little afraid to check what he did, and I know you will do a better job than I could. I trust you Noah, I know you won't hurt me."

Puck had to swallow the sudden lump in his throat, caused simultaneously by the fear of seeing all of Rachel's wounds, but also at her statement of how she trusted him. He knew it would be difficult, but he had to do it for her.

"Okay, I want you to lower your tights, you can keep your skirt on for modesty, I'm just going to hike it up a little so I can bandage you as much as I can," he said. Rachel nodded and lowered herself to lie down on her stomach on the couch. Puck gently lowered her tights, making sure her skirt was secure and wouldn't move in a way that would make Rachel uncomfortable. After removing the tights completely, he examined the damage to her legs.

It wasn't as bad as her back, probably because of the extra layers of clothing like Rachel said, but there were still red marks, and what looked like to be promises of bruises. He gently rubbed some bruise cream on her legs, to soothe the area. As soon as it was dry, he moved away and lowered her skirt back to its regular position.

"Is there anywhere else that's hurt?" he asked.

"My shoulders, but they're okay. It's just mainly my back. But it hurts too much to sit, or lie down".

"Okay, here, stay like that on the couch. That way the cream will dry and you'll be comfortable," he said as he stood up from the couch.

"But where will you sit?" Rachel asked.

"I'll sit on the floor," he said, as if it were obvious.

"No, no you can't. I can't inconvenience you," she argued.

Puck rolled his eyes as he sat. "Rachel, you're only _inconveniencing _me if you don't lie down. I promised that I would protect you, that includes making you comfortable".

Rachel's eyes filled at this admission. She reached out her hand to hold his. "Thank you, Noah. You have no idea how much I appreciate you."

Puck smiled and squeezed her hand. "Anytime. Really."

Just then, Puck's watch beeped, signaling that it was 11:00. "What did you tell your dads to let you stay out this late?" he asked.

Rachel yawned and put the other hand not holding Puck's under her chin. "They're not home. They went to Florida for Daddy's medical conference, and then decided to stay a few extra days to enjoy the Florida sun."

Puck's eyebrows shot up. "They're gone _again_?" he asked, incredulously. "They're never home!"

Rachel shrugged. "They work hard and deserve their vacations. I don't feel neglected, not really. I know they love me, and whenever I need something, they always make sure I have the best. The best therapists, the best vocal coaches, dance teachers-obviously. I just…sometimes I wish I had a more traditional home life. Not the having one father and one mother, I wouldn't trade my dads for anything. It just would have been…different to have them home sometimes."

Puck didn't know what to say. He didn't necessarily have the ideal lifestyle either, having his dad walk out on him, but at least his mom was there for him and Tamar.

Rachel yawned again. "Come on, it's late and you've had a long day. We should go to bed," Puck said, straightening up. "You're staying over, you take my room, I'll stay down here," he offered.

Rachel hesitated. "Actually Noah, um, I was wondering if you would join me." She looked down. "I just…feel more comfortable when you're with me. If you'd rather be by yourself, that's fine, you don't need to feel obligated to stay with me or –"

Puck cut her off. "Rachel. I'll sleep with you, I don't mind." He didn't even make a crude comment about her sleeping with him, only a small twitch of his lips revealed his thoughts. Rachel ducked her head, clearly knowing what passed Puck's mind.

"Alright, I just need something to sleep in." she said, raising her head up.

"That's no problem, I'll just lend you some basketball shorts and a t-shirt."

They got upstairs and Puck threw her the aforementioned clothes, while he took out a pair of sweatpants and a shirt for himself. He figured a shirt would make her feel more comfortable, instead of his usual sleep attire- nothing but a pair of boxers.

After they were both changed, Rachel stood by the bed, a little unsure about how to sleep. Puck saw, and took her hand and dragged her to the bed to lie down next to him. Rachel smiled and snuggled close to him, so she could rest on his chest, to keep her back away from lying directly on the mattress. Puck immediately wrapped his arm lightly over her hips, to avoid her scars.

"Goodnight Noah" she said.

Puck kissed the top of her head. "Goodnight Rach"

**A.N- I know it was long, but I felt it all had to be in one chapter. I'm not so sure how I feel about this chapter, but the end is in sight, just another few chapters, thank you for sticking with me!**


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything

The next day, Rachel left early, saying she had to get a new leotard before she went to her final dance rehearsal before the show. After she left, Puck made good on his promise to himself and finally called Mr. Schuester and Shelby. It took some time for him to convince them to wait until after the performance to do something, like Rachel wanted, although he was all for joining them in exposing Stanley now - along with doing a few other things to him.

At around noon, he drove over to the performing arts center. The show started at 1:00, but he wanted to make sure to be early, and to maybe talk to Rachel if he had a chance.

As he suspected, the place was still pretty empty, the only other audience members seemed to be parents of the performers, although he did notice some professional looking guys talking to someone. Puck assumed it was the broadway scouts talking to the manager, when he suddenly saw a fifth member in the group come forward to pompously shake hands with them.

It was him. The snotty, weasely asshole, Dakota Stanley himself. Puck felt his blood boil and his hand clenched. He had half a mind to go over there and beat the crap out of him when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Puck turned to see who it was and was surprised to see it was Mr. Schuester.

"I know what you're thinking," he said to Puck. "But punching him now won't do anything."

Puck just stared at him, shocked that he was there, which thankfully distracted him from his previous thoughts. "Mr. Schue - what are you doing here?" he asked. The man chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "After you told me about last night, did you really think that I _wouldn't_ come?"

Puck shrugged. "I don't know, I didn't really think about it."

Mr. Schuester gave him a slight smile. "You guys are like my kids, and as a pseudo-parent, it's my responsibility to look out for all of you."

Puck smiled warmly at his teacher, grateful to have his support. "Thanks Mr. Schue. And thanks again for everything you've done so far, it really helped."

"I'm glad," he said. "So what's the plan after today? I know you wanted to do something after Rachel's show."

"The second it's over, I'm taking her to the cops. It's time to get his bullshit out in the open." He hesitated for a minute. He figured his teacher would want to come with them to the police station but wasn't sure how Rachel would take it; she would be freaked out enough as it was. "I'd invite you to come, but Rachel still doesn't know that you know and it might be overload."

Mr. Schuester nodded. "I understand. I should also probably sit in the back so she doesn't get freaked out seeing me here. But I really came to see how _you're_ holding up. I know these past several months have been hard, and today will be even harder, especially after last night."

Puck let out a breath. "I don't know what I feel. I want this to be over with, but what if nothing happens? Rachel will be scared the rest of her life if he isn't arrested."

Mr. Schuester shook his head. "Don't think like that. The tape will be enough." Puck bit his lip, feeling awkward at the mention of the tape. When he told Mr. Schuester about the tape, he majorly glossed over it, just saying that Rachel got evidence on tape and was going to give it to the police. But Puck suspected that the man knew he was leaving out a lot of details.

"I know you haven't told me the whole story," he said, confirming Puck's thoughts. "But if you got whatever he did on tape, it should work. Did you bring it with you?" he asked.

"Yeah," Puck answered. "I have it in my bag, but I haven't had the chance to watch it myself yet."

That was a total lie. He'd had plenty of chances to watch it; he was just terrified of doing so.

Mr. Schuester nodded. "Okay. Just let me know how it goes." He looked at his watch. "It's getting pretty close to time, we should find our seats."

Sure enough the Performing Arts Center was filling up, so Puck went to get a seat close to the front, so he would really be able to see Rachel. Just as he was about to sit down, he saw someone walk in. It was Shelby. Puck was touched that she cared enough to come see Rachel, but he figured he really shouldn't be so surprised, that she would want to support Rachel, especially after last night, like Mr. Schuester said. Puck saw that Mr. Schuester noticed Shelby also, and went up to her, probably to tell her what Puck told him, about not letting Rachel know just yet. He saw Shelby nod and then scan the crowd in his direction. Once she made eye contact, she shot him a grateful smile. Happy that she was there, Puck nodded back and sat down in his seat, ready for the show to start.

Finally, the music started playing and he saw Rachel and the other dancers come on stage. You couldn't even tell she had been severely hurt the day before, her leotard covered her body, and her moves were as graceful as ever. He was especially impressed when she had to do lifts and choreography where the other dancer had to hold and grab her, and she didn't let one sign of pain show.

After what seemed like forever, no doubt drawn out because Puck was so anxious for it to be over, Rachel did her final lift, and the dancers stopped. He stood up, applauding with the audience, when Rachel saw him and beamed. Puck put his fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly, causing Rachel to blush, but she walked off stage with a huge smile on her face.

When everyone else stood up to leave, Puck raced to the door, right where the dancers would come out from. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Mr. Schuester's and Shelby's gaze as they were heading out, thankful that they understood his wishes to get Rachel out without her freaking out.

Finally, Rachel came out with a huge smile. "Noah! The broadway choreographers were here, and they just spoke to me and told me to call them when I get to New York! They want me to audition for them and the rest of their colleagues! Can you believe it?" she excitedly said in one breath, and jumped into his arms. Happy for her, Puck picked her up and spun her around. "That's awesome, Babe. I'm so proud of you. But do you know what would be even better?"

Rachel shook her head. "No, what could possibly be better?" Puck laid his hands on her shoulders, making sure she was looking at him.

"Leaving right now and going to the police."


	18. Abused ch 16 The Police

**Disclaimer: Still don't own**

"T-the police? Now?" Rachel asked, an air of nervousness in her voice.

"Yes Rachel, now," Puck said gently. "I don't want you getting hurt anymore, you know you have to do it." Rachel still looked nervous so he pulled her to his chest. "I'll be with you the whole time, remember, I promised." Rachel bit her lip and moved away. "Noah…why are you doing this?" she asked. Puck furrowed his brow. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't I do this, I've been with you the whole time, why would I stop now?"

Rachel shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I'm just used to doing things alone, I'm still getting over the idea that you've stayed with me so far, it just seems incredible that you would do all this for me."

Puck hugged Rachel to him again. "I'm not going anywhere. You're not alone anymore." Rachel smiled into his chest and wrapped her arms around him. After a few seconds, he pulled away slightly, but kept his arms around her. "So, you ready to go?"

Rachel turned her head and she saw Dakota Stanley lecturing one of the dancers. From the look on the other girl's face, Rachel knew that the other girl would be in trouble later.

Rachel turned back to Puck and met his intense gaze.

"Okay."

Puck drove the two of them in his truck to the police station; he wasn't going to let Rachel drive herself. A, because he didn't fully trust that she would actually go through with it, and B, he knew she would need the support. They didn't talk much on the way, she was too nervous. Puck noticed this and took one of her hands in his, with the other on the wheel. As they got closer and closer to the station, Rachel's grip got tighter and tighter, until by the time they reached the station, she had his hand in a death grip.

Puck turned off the ignition and looked at Rachel. "You okay, babe?"

Rachel looked a little pale, but she still nodded. "I have to do this," she said, telling herself as much as him.

"Okay," he said, giving her hand a squeeze. "Let's do this".

They walked into the station, and saw a police officer there. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Yeah," Puck said looking at Rachel. "I'm Noah Puckerman and this is Rachel Berry. We, uh, are here to report a crime. An abuse."

The woman looked over at Rachel whose eyes were roaming the room. She noticed the girl's fearful expression, and her constant shifting. The officer looked back at Puck who gave a very slight nod. She sighed sympathetically at them. "Seventh Floor. Special Victims Unit. I'll let them know you're coming."

Puck smiled at her gratefully and led Rachel to the elevators. When they got to the seventh floor, there was a woman detective waiting for them outside the doors. "Hi, I'm Detective Bennet, are you Noah and Rachel?" she asked them, a gentle tone in her voice.

"Yes," Puck answered, happy that the receptionist gave them a woman detective. Rachel wasn't normally afraid of men, but he was afraid that anything that could seem threatening would set her off, and just force Rachel back into her shell. "Rachel has something to tell you. Rachel?" he said, turning to the girl. "Are you ready to tell your story?" Rachel gave him a terrified glance, and he turned her to him. "Remember. I'm here the whole time." Rachel took a shaky breath and turned to the detective and gave a small nod.

"Alright," Detective Bennet said. "Let's go to another room, and we can talk. Noah can come if you want."

"Please," Rachel breathed, holding Puck's hand tight.

They walked down a hall and into a room. Puck noticed there was a double-sided mirror, so there were probably detectives on the other side looking in. The room however looked nicer than other interrogation rooms he had seen on television, he guessed there were separate rooms for victims than for suspects.

"Now, Rachel, since you're a minor, you have the right to wait for your parents. We can call them if you like"

"No," Rachel said. "They're out of town right now, and I don't want to wait, I want to get this over with."

"Okay." The detective said. "Let's start with the basics. How old are you Rachel?"

For a while the questioning continued in this mien, general questions to get Rachel comfortable, she asked Rachel about Glee and school, and Puck noticed Rachel becoming visible calmer, especially when the detective admitted that she loved watching Broadway shows too, and acted in a few of her high school plays.

The detective now leaned forward slightly. "You seem to be a very sweet, strong girl Rachel. And I think you can handle my next few questions. Are you ready to talk about it?"

Rachel bit her lip, but apparently she trusted the detective, so she whispered "yes".

"That's good," the detective continued in her soft voice. "I'm just going to turn this microphone on to record our conversation, okay? Can you start with who did this? You can take your time, you don't need to rush"

Rachel hesitated, so Puck took her hand in his on top of the table and gently rubbed his thumb back and forth over her skin. This seemed to calm her, so she continued. "Dakota Stanley. He's my dance instructor."

"That's good, Rachel. How long has this been going on?"

"Seven months. I knew it was wrong, and I should have ended sooner, but he's the best dance instructor! And I want to be on Broadway so much, I had to do it!" she said, her voice getting a little hysterical.

"It's okay, Rachel," the detective said. "The important thing is that you're here now."

Rachel nodded, thankful for the detective's acceptance, and felt comfortable enough to elaborate. Now that she got started she just wanted to tell the whole thing, get it all off her chest at once.

"He started with just little stuff. Pushing me if I fell the wrong way, or pulling my arm if it wasn't in the correct pose. But then, he just started getting worse, yelling at us all the time, working us to the bone, now slapping our legs if we stepped wrong, or scratching our arms and legs," she rubbed her shoulder where she knew there was a bruise. The detective didn't miss this, and wrote down a note on the pad of paper in front of her.

"I didn't tell anyone for the longest time, but Noah figured it out." She glanced at him. "He's been helping me ever since, he actually got me to come here" Puck had a small, embarrassed smile on his face, but when he looked at the detective's face, he saw she looked proud of him.

Rachel continued. "I justified myself saying that no one would want me to tell, the other dancers were going through the same thing too and weren't doing anything, and either way there would be no proof- I know this same thing happened with Carmel High's Glee Club, Vocal Adrenaline, so I figured it wouldn't make a difference whether I said anything or not. But…he's getting worse, and I was afraid he would…do…something. But I wanted to wait until after my recital, there were Broadway scouts. I actually just finished, Noah told me to come right away."

The detective smiled at her. "Rachel, you did great, this was very brave of you." Here, she hesitated. "But you are right about the other Glee Club. We don't have concrete evidence, and I of course believe you, but I can't hold him unless we have actual proof, can you think of anything conclusive that we can use? We want to help you."

Rachel hesitated. "I actually did think about this. I – I got a tape. I taped him hurting me." And before she could think about it, she whipped out the camera from Puck's backpack and turned it on, allowing them to see the small screen.

There was Rachel, leaning down over her bag setting up the camera. She had a scared, but resolute look on her face. Puck could see that when she started dancing, she danced much worse than she normally did, and on screen, the dance instructor noticed too. After the third time Rachel messed up, he went ballistic. He shoved her to the ground and started slapping and punching and scratching her legs and arms. Puck wanted to look away, but he couldn't, he was frozen to the screen. Just as Rachel said, Stanley now shoved her off him and started to unbuckle his belt.

At this point, Rachel was curled up, shaking, in her chair, but neither Puck nor the detective noticed this until she let out a small cry. Puck automatically gathered Rachel in his arms and the detective shut the tape off.

"Rachel…" she began. "Did he rape you?" she quietly.

"No, the rest of the tape shows him hitting me with the belt, and then letting me go."

Now Puck was shaking. He knew what had happened, and hearing about it was bad enough. But now watching Stanley actually beating Rachel…the only thing stopping him from tearing out of the room and hurting him as much as he hurt Rachel was the fact that Rachel was still in his arms, terrified.

Detective Bennet saw Puck, and knew she had to do something before Puck exploded. "Alright, Rachel honey, this is good, you were very brave. But I need to document all the injuries. Can you come with me to the Medical Examiner? I'm sorry, Noah can't come with us, but she can photograph your bruises, and give you something to treat them with."

Rachel looked at Puck who put aside his thoughts to nod at her, silently encouraging Rachel to go with the detective. He was grateful for this interruption; he needed to vent this sudden emotional upheaval. He wasn't sure if he could hide his emotions from Rachel for much longer.

Puck waited until she turned the corner so she could no longer see him before running into the bathroom. He paced the room for a few seconds, unsure how to handle his emotions when he suddenly punched his hand into the glass mirror, causing it to make a huge crack with a few pieces falling out. He relished the pain and the sound of the glass breaking and kept punching the mirror until it was shattered into pieces all over the bathroom floor. Suddenly feeling himself unable to support himself, he took a shuddering breath before falling to the floor, crying into his bleeding hands.

After a minute he heard the bathroom door open, and Puck knew he was about to be yelled at, but he didn't care to talk to whoever walked in or explain what he did. Surprisingly, the person didn't yell at him at all. He sat down next to Puck and let him pull himself together.

"I'm sorry about your girl," the man said. "I know you must be hurting right now." Puck turned to him, wondering how he knew what happened. "I'm Detective Rogers, Detective Bennet's partner. I was watching through the mirror." Puck turned away from him; he didn't want to think about that video. He had barely kept his stomach from vomiting when he saw the video the first time, he didn't want to re-live it. He forcefully swallowed the bile down his throat, not willing to speak until he could be sure he wouldn't throw up on the detective's shoes.

The detective seemed to understand his silence, so he kept talking. "You did a real good thing helping her. How long have you known?"

Puck cleared his throat so he would be able to answer the man. "Five months. Rachel was really good at hiding it; I just noticed a bruise one day and called her on her bullshit excuse for weeks until she told me. I always knew when she had a new bruise, watching her go to dance class _killed_ me; I tried to help her as much as I could, but I still couldn't do anything. That bastard, he – " Puck had to stop here, his mind was reliving the video again.

"I know you're upset you couldn't do more," the detective said calmly. "But look at what you did so far. You got her to admit that she was being abused, you helped her with all her injuries- and most of all, you got her to come here. Do you know how many cases of abuse go unreported? Far too many. But you just stopped this abuse from being one of the lost ones. I'd say you're a pretty good kid. Don't knock yourself down."

Puck looked at him, the tears now dried on his cheeks. The detectives' words reassured him, and he felt better. He stood up and looked around at the mess he created. "Umm…"

Detective Rogers cut him off. "It's okay, we'll deal with it later, let's just fix your hand before your girl comes back," he said walking out the door. "She's, uh, not my girl" Puck admitted. The detective held open the door for Puck to leave through, eyebrows raised.

"Yet" he said.

Puck ducked his head and smiled, walking out the door.


	19. Abused Ch 17 The ME and Feelings

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee**

**A.N- Second to last chapter! Thank you so much guys for sticking with me, I hope this lives up to your expectations. Enjoy!**

Rachel followed the detective down the hall and outside to her car; she was going to need to actually go to the Medical Examiner's office to get checked out.

"I know this is tough," Detective Bennet began. "But then this is it. The M.E's office is close by, she's going to take a few photos, and will give you something for the cuts and bruises. But like I said before, you've done terrific so far."

Rachel just nodded, unable to speak. She had been confident before, with Puck in the room sitting next to her, but now she was scared again. The detective noticed this and started asking her more questions about Glee, after seeing how the girl loosened up the first time they talked about it. It worked, Rachel felt more comfortable being able to talk about things she knew wouldn't hurt her in any way; on the contrary, something that she really excelled at. Rachel admitted that she wanted to go to New York after high school, how she had dreamed of being on Broadway since she was a little girl and saw her first show. Rachel got so absorbed into the conversation; she didn't even realize that they got to the M.E's office until they were in the parking lot. Once they pulled up however, Rachel stopped talking mid-sentence.

"Rachel," the detective began. "I know it's hard, but this is the last thing. All she's going to do is take a few pictures. And I'll be with you the whole time."

"Okay," Rachel said, as she stepped out of the car. It struck Rachel how often she had been saying that lately, and instead of bothering her that she kept having to do things, it strangely made her feel better. Even though everyone wanted her to do something, they let _her_ choose. She forgot what having a choice felt like.

True to the detective's word, she stayed with Rachel the whole time she was with the Medical Examiner. The doctor was a very nice woman; she was talking to the detective with an easy familiarity as if they were good friends, so that helped Rachel's nerves. She was also similar to the detective in that she had an all around good personality, and had the ability to distract Rachel. After acknowledging that the bruises were from her dance instructor, they started talking about different Broadway shows. She was casual about it too, every so often she would say medical prevalent statements, like "lift your arm up here," and then would continue the conversation where they left off.

After photographing the bruises on her arm, the M.E, Doctor Goodman told her to change into a hospital gown. "You mentioned that you were whipped in the back, I want to clean the area from any possibility of infection, and bandage it so when you lie down, it won't hurt as much." Rachel did as she said, and when she put the gown on, and the doctor lifted the back part and was surprised to see it already bandaged. "I see you beat me to it. Who helped bandage you up?" Doctor Goodman asked.

"Noah helped me," she replied. "He's been helping the whole time for about five months now, he's the only one I've told. He noticed what was going on and eventually I told him. Nobody else realized, I was good at hiding it; Noah's just really perceptive. He gets me."

"Oh, Noah's your boyfriend?" Doctor Goodman asked, as she put fresh bandages on her back, after covering the scars with rubbing alcohol.

"No, he's just a friend." Rachel said, with a slightly disappointed sound in her voice.

The detective raised her eyebrow. "Oh? It seemed to me that you guys really hit it off." Rachel shrugged, not knowing how to answer. "You do like him though, right?" she asked.

Rachel looked up and saw the two women looking at her, like fellow high school friends would look like if they wanted to know a piece of gossip. That idea made Rachel smile, and she didn't feel awkward talking to them about it. "Well…yes, I do. We dated for a brief period of time when we were sophomores, but that didn't work out, we were both emotionally invested in other people. But now…" she trailed off. "I know that it's not gratitude or psychological attachment from the abuse, I liked him before all of this happened, it's just grown even stronger now. And sometimes, I let myself believe that he likes me back, but I can't be positive that he's just being protective because of the abuse."

Detective Bennet sat down on the bed next to her. "As a detective, I've been trained to be observant, reading other people and assessing situations. Trust me, Noah likes you. A lot. He's probably just worried about the same thing as you are, that you're only responding to him out of psychological dependence, which is why, I assume, that he hasn't asked you out or anything yet. But he will, don't worry."

Rachel smiled widely at her words. "Really? You're not just saying that to be nice?" The detective smiled back. "Yes, I mean it. Anyone who looks at that boy knows he's into you, you just need to let him in."

Rachel nodded as she jumped down from the bed, looking a thousand times happier than how she did when first entering the examiner's office. "Thank you, that really makes me feel better."

Doctor Goodman came over to Rachel to give her some cream and big, hospital sized band-aids. "Your cuts will be fine, just apply a little cream and put the band-aids over the cut for the next week or so, and even the scars will go away. And good luck Rachel, You're going to be fine."

Rachel smiled at the doctor in thanks and let the detective steer her out of the office to go back to the police station- and to Noah.

Puck was talking to Detective Rogers, sitting by his desk, his hand already cleaned and bandaged. He saw Rachel come toward him and immediately stood up to wrap her in a hug, but before he had a chance to, Rachel gasped and grabbed his hand.

"Noah! What happened?" she asked, concerned.

Puck exchanged a glance with Detective Rogers; he didn't want to tell Rachel the real reason his hand was hurt. Luckily, the detective jumped in before he had to say anything.

"I was pouring a cup of coffee, and the mug fell and broke on Noah's hand. But don't worry, it's clean and fine now."

Rachel looked up at Puck with a raised eyebrow, signifying that she knew there was more to the story. Puck just grinned at her, and Rachel rolled her eyes. He then shifted his hand so he could hold hers properly and then tugged her into him so he could now hug her. Rachel leaned in happily, and wrapped her arms around him as well. The two detectives looked on, smiling, and moved away to give them some privacy.

Puck pulled away and held her gently by the shoulders. "Are you okay?"

Rachel nodded. "Yeah. After I gave my statement, Detective Bennet took me to the M.E's office and she just took some photos of my cuts and bruises, and gave me some ointment for my back cuts. She did say that you did a wonderful job bandaging me up." Puck grinned, a little embarrassed, but proud of himself nonetheless. Puck saw that she looked a little disconcerted, so he lowered his head to look in her eyes. "Are you sure you're okay? You seem a little…off"

Rachel smiled. "Now _that_ is something every girl wants to hear," she joked. She then bit her lip, while looking around the station. "I would like to get out of here though. I just want to decompress and let it all out."

Puck nodded. "Okay. Let's get out of here," he said. Puck stood up straight and looked around for Detectives Bennet and Rogers. "Hey detectives," he called out, once he saw them. "I'm going to take Rachel home, is that okay?" he asked, slinging an arm around Rachel's shoulders.

"That's fine," Detective Bennet said. "Oh, and I have one more thing for Rachel." She beckoned the girl to come to her and handed her a business card. "Here's a number of an abuse support group. I know it sounds annoying and invasive, but these groups are really helpful. And," she continued, speaking in a lower voice now. "My number is on the back. Call me if you need me, even if it's just for some friendly girl talk." Rachel grinned and took the card appreciatively. She turned back to Puck. "Come on, Noah"

He smiled as he once again laid his arm around her shoulder, and walked out of the building.

"So where do you want to go?" Puck asked, once they buckled themselves in his truck.

Rachel thought about it. "Can we go to the park on Longbourne Avenue?"

Puck nodded. "Of course. Wherever you want."

They drove to the park but instead of sitting on the benches like Puck expected, Rachel sat down on the small grass area that faced the street, and - Puck was shocked to see- also faced the dance studio. He figured that Rachel must have had a good reason for coming here, so he wasn't going to say anything until she volunteered.

"I wanted a good memory here. I don't want to come by here all the time and think only about how I was abused and hurt here, I just want one happy moment." She said in a quiet voice, staring at the brick building.

"Makes sense," Puck said. "So, do you want to climb on the jungle gym? Go on the swings? Graffiti the dance studio?" Rachel's lips twitched into a smile at his last sentence. "As appealing as the last offer sounds, I'd rather just sit here. With you." She looked over at Puck, making sure that he knew she was being serious.

"Okay," he said, settling himself next to her. "We'll sit."

They stayed like that for a few minutes, enjoying each other's company, just soaking in the silence, letting the peace surround them. After a few minutes, Puck started speaking.

"Oh, I almost forgot," he said, while searching through his backpack. "I got something for you"

Rachel sat up straighter. "You didn't have to get me anything," she replied, though her eyes gave away her excitement of getting a present. Puck found what he was looking for, and pulled out a box from the bag. "I know I didn't have to get you anything. But I wanted to. Most people give flowers at the end of recitals, but I figured, neither of us are "most people" so I got you something different. Open it"

Puck handed Rachel the box, and she opened it and gasped. It held a thin gold bangle with stars imprinted all around the perimeter.

"I know you said your dads gave you one, but you stopped wearing it because it was childish," he started, taking the bangle from the box to put it on her hand. "But I figured, that you need a new one because this is a new stage for you. You're free from Dakota Stanley's control, and I don't care what he said. You are a star Rach. And you're going to make it big. I want you to remember that every time you look at this bracelet."

He slowly pushed the bangle up her hand until it rested comfortably on her wrist, but he still didn't move his hand away. "This is a new start for you. Where you can do anything."

Rachel just stared at his hand, carefully holding her bangle-adorned wrist. She kept thinking about the detective's words, about how she said that Noah liked her too, he just wasn't sure about her feelings. Rachel looked up into Puck's face and saw it in his expression. She held eye contact for a few more seconds, but then tilted her head up until her lips finally met his. She was about to pull away after a few seconds, but Puck pushed his other hand in her hair to deepen the kiss. After another few breathless seconds, they both pulled away, both sets of eyes bright with happiness.

"You kissed me," he stated.

"I did. You kissed me back," she countered

Puck smiled but then his face dropped for a split second. "Wait, was that a thank-you-for-taking-care-of-me-I'm-so-grateful kiss?" he asked, a little fearful that it really was that.

Rachel smiled up at him. "That was definitely _not_ a thank you kiss." Now it was her turn to ask. "Was that an I'm-so-proud-of-you-you-did-the-right-thing kiss?"

Puck licked his lips and smiled at her now. "That was definitely _not_ a proud kiss, though I _am_ proud of you. That was a real kiss."

Rachel's smile grew on her face, giving the biggest smile she had ever worn for the past seven months. "Well, I guess I got my good memory," she said.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Puck asked, also smiling widely.

Rachel had a wicked gleam in her eye.

"I got a boyfriend here"

Puck just smiled and leaned in for another kiss.

**A.N- So I was going to make this the last chapter, but I've decided to add an epilogue to tie up all loose ends, but I had such a great time writing this, and I really couldn't have done it without your support, thanks so much guys! I hope you've enjoyed!**


	20. Abused Ch 18 Epilogue

**Epilogue- This is really my final chapter now, I am a little sad it's over, I had so much fun writing this, but I'm pretty happy with how it ended. I really couldn't have finished this without you guys, so thank you!**

**Disclaimer: For the last time, I don't own Glee**

Six years later found Puck and Rachel in a room together in a building in New York. They both lived there now, Rachel, of course, as a Broadway actress, and Puck, surprisingly, as a detective of the New York City Special Victims Unit police squad. After seeing what Rachel went through, he wanted to make sure that nothing like that would happen to her, or anyone else again.

Dakota Stanley was in prison finally. After Rachel's tape and testimony-along with testimonies from the other dancers, who became brave enough to confess after Rachel's example- he was convicted and serving his sentence in the Allen County Jail of Ohio.

Puck was standing at one end of the room, with Mr. Schuester standing next to him. Puck kept a close relationship with his teacher after he helped Puck, and whenever Puck went back to Lima, he always made a point to visit him. He looked at the other end of the room, and he saw that Rachel-he was dismayed to see- was being fussed with by his mother. Rolling his eyes at his mom's antics, he turned back to Mr. Schuester.

"So are you ready?" the man asked.

Puck smiled at the man. "Please, I can handle this. I was Glee's Ambadassador, remember?"

Mr. Schuester laughed. "Okay. Well get moving, because you're on soon."

Puck turned and saw that the other people in the room moved to the sides so he could have his moment. He then started walking to the center of the room, when he saw Rachel walk toward him.

She was once again wearing a familiar dress, with almost no jewelry; but it didn't matter, she was still the most beautiful girl in the room, in his opinion.

As the music started, playing an equally familiar tune, Rachel came forward to meet him in the middle.

And, along with the instrumentals of their favorite song that they danced to so many years ago, they started dancing their first dance, as husband and wife.

**The End!**


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